topic of conversation.
Mostly it came up because Bob and I went to see the Mythical Creatures exhibit a while back at
the Museum of Natural History here in NYC and left a wee bit disappointed.
Why didn't they really go into the history? The mythos? Why did they have huge plastic mythical creatures instead of maybe showing the texts and early drawings in which the creatures gained their mythical momentum? It seemed "dumbed" down... maybe because they thought that kids wouldn't get it?
So... I was thinking of dragons. They could have done an entire exhibit on them alone.
I remember in Asian Art History hearing of the Shanghai World Financial Center building- That it was to be the largest building in the world, and people were so concerned that it would be an obstruction to "the dragons" that they built a hole in the top of the structure.
Which, depending on how you measure it is the 2nd tallest, to the "tallest with a roof" building in the world.
Tasha (my sister) said that they had to do it otherwise it would not be structurely sound and would blow over.
As I understood it, Chinese and Japanese Dragons tend to be a sort of "nature" figure.
(and apparently they also have the ability to turn into humans!?)
here is more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_dragon
Dragons however span across many cultures!
European, Greek, Persian, Australian, etc!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
Bless these humans for these websites:
http://www.draconian.com/home/frameset.htm
www.freewebs.com/
http://pictures.linkmesh.com/dragons/slavic_dragons.php
now sit back and enjoy dragons:
Seriously... I could go on.
Like in my section of the Dragon exhibit of the Museum of Natural History, we'd also cover:
Dragons in Movies, Dragons in TV, Dragons of the World (in every culture!), Colors of Dragons, Dragon Symbolism (Chinese sign, etc.), Dragons in family crests, Dragons and Vampires (As in Vlad Tepes Drakul/Vladimir the Impaler), Dragons in fossils (early beliefs with the findings of dinosaurs)
and much much more!
On a personal note: I had a Puff the Magic Dragon doll, that when you hugged or squished him baby powder came out it's nose and looked like smoke!
