Year of the Dragon: Random Stories About Dragons

Updated date: 02/15/2024 05:45:06

DTO - The dragon is a legendary animal familiar in the East and quite familiar in the West. In Vietnam, the dragon is an image with a special position in culture, beliefs and is a sacred symbol related to the legend "Dragon's Children, Fairy's Grandchildren".

The Dragon is a kind of sacred animal.

Of the 12 zodiac animals, the Dragon is the only animal that no one has ever seen with their own eyes. The Dragon is a creature that appears in Eastern and Western mythology. In both the East and the West, the image of the Dragon represents a legendary creature with extraordinary power. Dragons in Asian countries are worshiped as gods. Western dragons are considered monsters with ferocious images, so European countries consider dragons a symbol of evil and ferocity.

Eastern culture highly respects and considers dragons as a sacred animal. Dragons have snake bodies, fish scales, lion manes, deer horns and can fly. According to Le Van Duc's Vietnamese dictionary, dragons are animals with long bodies, large scales, wide mouths, one horn, clawed feet, born underwater but can fly in the clouds. The ancients believed that the four great seas are the East Sea, the West Sea, the North Sea and the South Sea, each of which has a Dragon King. In terms of color, there are blue, white, red, black or yellow dragons. Among these, the yellow dragon is the most noble and should be used to symbolize the Son of Heaven. Therefore, the king's robe is called Long Bao, embroidered with a four-legged, five-clawed yellow dragon. Legend also says that the male dragon holds a very precious pearl in its mouth, so many ancient paintings depict two dragons fighting over a pearl called "Two Dragons Fighting Over a Pearl". Sometimes there are also paintings of two dragons playing with the moon called "Two Dragons Feasting Over the Moon". Dragon is the easiest animal to draw, no one can argue. Meanwhile, the remaining 11 zodiac animals (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Cat...) are real, so if you draw them wrong, everyone will know. Because dragon is a legend, it is honored to the level of mystery. In the four sacred animals, Long Ly Quy Phung, dragon is at the top. Long is Dragon, Ly or Lan is Ky Lan, Qui is Turtle and Phung is a precious bird.

Dragon in Vietnam

The Vietnamese are proud to be “Descendants of the Dragon and the Fairies”. Legend has it: Loc Tuc, the son of King De Minh, ascended the throne and took the title Kinh Duong Vuong. Kinh Duong Vuong married Dong Dinh Quan’s daughter, Long Nu, and gave birth to Sung Lam. Sung Lam succeeded to the throne and took the title Lac Long Quan. Lac Long Quan married Au Co, gave birth to a sac containing one hundred eggs, which hatched into one hundred children. One day, Lac Long Quan said to Au Co: I am of the Long Quan lineage, that is, the Dragon King. And you are of the fairy lineage. If you live together for too long, I fear it will not be good. Now that you have one hundred children, you should take fifty to the mountains, and I will take fifty to the sea. From this legend, the Vietnamese are proud to have “dragon father and fairy mother”.

The ancient Vietnamese believed that Dragons and Unicorns were sacred animals symbolizing the Son of Heaven, and that whenever they appeared, it was a good omen or that a wise king would be born to bring peace and prosperity to the world. From there, there was a custom of performing the Lion Dance on the first days of the year during the Lunar New Year or on opening days, ceremonies, engagements, weddings... in the hope of good luck, success and prosperity.

In Vietnamese, the image of the dragon is associated with the authority of the king, such as the king's robe is called long bao, the palace yard is long dinh, the king's carriage is long gia, the king's face is long nhan, the king's beard is long tu, the king's bed is long sang, the king's body is long the..., the dragon boat for the king to travel, the dragon pedestal is the king's throne... In feng shui, finding land to develop, build a house, cultivate, to settle down and make a living requires determining the direction, the good land veins running in a zigzag pattern are called long veins. In the view and concept of folk culture emanating from reality, there are also often comparisons such as "flying dragons and dancing phoenixes", "dragons coming to the shrimp house", "double dragons attending the pearl", "dragon liver, phoenix fat", "drawing dragons and drawing snakes"...

Dragon with places named "Long"

According to the chronicles, on the founding day of the Ly Dynasty, there was a flying dragon, so the capital was named Thang Long. The dragon is not only a symbol of the king and sacredness, but also a symbol of the country's shape: from Bai Tu Long, Ha Long, Bach Long Vi, through Thang Long to Cuu Long (nine dragons). Imagine Vietnam as a dragon, the head is the North, the middle is the Central, and the tail is the South.

In addition, in Phu Loc district (Thua Thien - Hue) there is Dragon mountain; in Hue there is Kim Long mountain (with Thien Mu pagoda), Binh Dinh has Ham Long mountain, Bien Hoa has Buu Long mountain, Long An mountain; Ha Tien has Duong Long mountain. From Saigon to the provinces of the Southeast, we encounter Long Khanh, Long Thanh, Long Dat, Long Son, Long Dien, Long Giao (Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau), Phuoc Long, Binh Long (Binh Phuoc); on the rivers of the Southwest, we encounter Long An, Long Dinh (Tien Giang), Long Ho (Vinh Long), Long My (Can Tho), Long Xuyen ( An Giang ), Long Phu (Soc Trang)... if we have to list the communes and hamlets named after the dragon, it would be difficult to count them all. And it would be a big omission if we did not mention the historic Nha Rong port.

The dragon is an image that holds a special place in the culture and beliefs of the Vietnamese people and was once a sacred symbol related to the legend of "The Dragon and the Fairy's Descendants" of the Vietnamese people. Nowadays, although the image of the dragon is no longer sacred and supreme, it is still used to decorate architectural works, paintings, carvings, and artistic engravings... In modern life, the dragon has been "civilized" and entered from spiritual life, beliefs to household items. Throughout history, the dragon has remained a part of the cultural life of the Vietnamese people.

Nguyen Dac Hien

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