Appreciate a Dragon Day

Dragon is a mythical animal that only appears in Eastern and Western fairy tales. In both the West and the East, the dragon is described as a mythical mascot with extraordinary and mysterious power. Appreciate Dragon Day, which is celebrated on January 16 every year, to learn about dragons and share the love with these creatures.

Appreciate a Dragon day History

Appreciating a dragon day stems from the fact that famous novelist Donita K. Paul wanted to celebrate the publication of her first fantasy novel Dragonspell. Part of that five-volume novel series is The DragonKeeper Chronicles.

Dragon legends in Asian countries are very different from dragons in European countries. In Asian countries, dragons are often depicted with snake bodies, fish scales, lion's mane, deer horns and flying. Unlike Western countries that consider dragons to be fierce and cruel animals that need to be disarmed, in Asian countries dragons are sacred and revered animals.

Oriental Dragon

In Asian countries, especially in China, the dragon is considered as one of the four mascots: Dragon, unicorn, turtle, and four spirits.

Of these four mascots, only Turtle is real.

Currently, some reptiles are also assigned the name "dragon" such as the Komodo dragon.

Because the Dragon is at the top of the four spirits, the Dragon has a great influence in the spiritual life of the Chinese people. At the end of 1987, in Puyang district, Henan province, China, a dragon made of pottery was unearthed, and when it was examined, it was 6,000 years old. This further proves the cult of the Dragon in primitive society, the Dragon occupies an important position in the beliefs of the mascot or totem.

Dragons are always present in Chinese myths, in paintings and ancient animals, through fortune telling on unearthed animal bones.

Western Dragon

In fairy tales in Europe, especially in Russia, the dragon is often depicted as a scaly, long-tailed and flying reptile that usually has three or nine heads that spit fire. If these ends are severed, they will grow back immediately. Some dragons have only one head and have a short, hooked snout like an eagle's beak.

According to Western legends: Dragons are powerful, ferocious animals and are often tasked with guarding treasures, castles or beauty, but often they are described as "brave and unscrupulous" and often succumbed and died at the hands of a knight.

For Western countries, the Dragon is really a monster, they symbolize extraordinary strength but lean towards evil. It has the shape of a dinosaur but has more horns, wings, dorsal fins and can spit fire or water… Its skin is very solid, no weapon can damage it but it has a weak point located in the eyes and tongue, they often live in remote places that are rarely visited by humans

Is there really a Dragon or not?

In terms of biology, according to their shape and way of life, it is easy to see that this is one of the surviving prehistoric dinosaurs, they are giant lizards living in caves, seas or valleys, remote forests that people rarely visit.

Dragons most likely come from a real creature and then embellished by human imagination, but it may also be all a pure product of imagination when people are directly confronted with the dragons. Supernatural powers of nature such as storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods... and they have attributed these natural phenomena to images of angry Dragons.

Most people think dragons are just the result of human imagination. However, in fact there are also some real animals called "dragons" and they still exist in the wild to this day. Here are the famous "dragons" in legend and reality in many countries around the world. Legendary famous dragons such as:  Hydra, Hungarian Blue Dragon, Yama No Orochi, Vu Long… Realistic dragons: According to scientists, there are now a number of reptiles whose shapes are quite similar to mythical dragons, so they are called dragons, divided into 4 types: Earth dragons, flying dragons, Komodo dragons and Australian dragons.

How to Celebrate Appreciate A Dragon Day

Dragon is also a symbol of power, a topic of exploitation of the art world around the world. That's why in the world, countries have produced a lot of good movies about dragons to bring you into a fascinating fantasy world, or parts of novels, legends about dragons in the gods. Greek mythology. On Dragon Day, there are many activities you can do to immerse yourself in the world of Dragons. You can search and watch famous movies that are extremely popular and have great sales about Dragons such as: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) by director Peter Jackson, How to Train Your Dragon (2010) ), Dragon Wars (2007), Eragon (2006), Reign of Fire (2002), Reign of Fire (2002), Dragonheart (1996), The Neverending Story (1984), Dragonslayer (1981), Pete's Dragon (1977).

Or you can read some legends about Dragons in Greek mythology, about 1 of 12 feats of hero Hercules slaying the Hydra Dragon. Or the story of Yamata No Orochi in Koijiki, the warrior Susanoo killed the dragon by pouring sake on it and cutting off all the heads while the monster was sleeping. Thanks to that, he was able to save the princess Kushi-inada-hime, the last daughter of the 8 people who were about to be sacrificed to the Eight Ky Great Snake. And many other legends about Dragon species in the world.

Besides, show off your painting skills by drawing dragons in your imagination, then share it with everyone. Have a nice Appreciate a Dragon Day!