Proof of Dragons?

[asatiger1966]

This is a wonderful thread! I don't know how I didn't see it before.

I want to believe that dragons existed. They have become myth, which needs to be untangled - and they are still represented in very disparate places.

There is a dragon, to this day, on the Welsh flag.

There have been dragons on Chinese roofs from the year oatcake until the C19th. I joined my OH at the end of his contract in China (in 2017) and we spent a month touring. We didn't hear much about big dragons but, 'Pixiu/Pichu (the baby dragon who eats but never shits)', was special. In China, that wee dragon guards you and your wealth (note how similar it seems to that Pokemon character, Pikachu).
We bought an antique, Pixiu. It's beautifully carved, in jadeite (with a vampire bat on its back) and It needed its own passport to get out of China.
I've just searched, 'Pichou', to get the spelling right...and this is what I found at wickedpedia

Pixiu - Wikipedia

Seems a lot darker than the way it was described to us. Ours does have one, 'horn', which is more like a pony-tail...which is being tugged on by the vampire bat. I kind of wish that I hadn't looked now.

Anyway, then there are, 'The Dragoons', in both England and France. Both named after the word, 'Dragon'. Fire-breathing cannon?

Here's the badge of the feared, '2me Regiment Dragons', in France

2nd Dragoon Regiment (France) - Wikipedia

Sorry for using Wikipedia but it was the simplest and quickest place to go for these examples.

Then...there's my experience, living in Lagos (Nigeria)...where the dragon is considered to be the beast which rose from the sea...which links me to Achilles and Henry II.

So, I should leave it right there. No proof and I do not want to derail the thread.

Regarding the flag of Tartary; is there a difference between a dragon and a wyvern?

The last large unit I fought with in Africa

 

[HELLBOY]

Curious similarity with one of the two Artisan brothers of the Mayan culture, and Marduk, son of Enki, and more specifically with his dragon, the Mu šhu šu .
The muçu ššu is an apotropaic figure, that is, it gathers in itself not only the aspects of several animals, but also their character: it has the appearance of a lion, the head is of a snake with horns, the body is covered with scales, from which hair appears on the head and neck, the front legs are those typical of a feline, while the hind legs are those of a bird. It is present in the Mesopotamian tradition, and some specimens are represented in the Ishtar gate, where they play the role of defenders, built by Nebuchadnezzar in honor of Marduk.
According to the interpretation of many experts, the dragon symbolically represents the seasons of the year.
This is not a snake, it has horns, and therefore dragon, it looks like a griffin without wings, a dragon without the bird part, the trinity of the feathered serpent.
And it is precisely the horns that always the artistan, a magician who turned granite into Crete, and jade into plasticine. Meanwhile as seen in Marduk the Mu šhu šu comes out of the hand, not from the sleeve, so it could be a body extension, like the tail of the artistan, which smoothes and accompanies the beast on the ground, beast that in the Mayan figure comes out like a tail. But the detail are the horns, in the enlargement it is seen that there is no doubt that those of the serpent are horns, he drew the contours in black and painted them in white, it could be at random? White as are the horns of almost all animals in the world, and in the specific description that it is covered with scales, scales that look precisely like those of the artistan's body as in the arms and legs. The hat is also singular, maybe it is me who wants to see the Mu šhu ššu in the Mayans, but here as I was saying it is a continuous connection, same gods with the same wings and the so ′′ unique′′ bag in the hands, remove the wings and keep the bag, put the lion and the wings, keep lion and wings but put the man's head, and I could go on for hours, it's a game of exchange because it's a game of parts, same lives, same gods, same stories told with different eyes in different times, a fantastic fairy tale that is the most beautiful there is, the masterpiece movie of all, our History, our true fantastic story.

• Credits for the comparisons and text to Luca Zampi whom you can follow on Facebook, this comparison seemed to me to be a perfect match with this thread on Dragons.

 

[asatiger1966]

Awesome post, I have never heard of them, great links too.
The one I saw was like this one in shape

View attachment 5213
But small,grey and green,and without the sunken cheeks below the eye socket.






Returning to the OP;

@asatiger1966 you may be interested in this I found surfing on from one of @Kamikaze 's links

THE GOLDEN DRAGONS OF TASEK BERA

Tasek Bera or Bera Lake is a very large, deep lake in the Malaysian state of Pahang, and according to the traditions of the local Semelai people it was (and still may be?) home to a number of huge water dragons whose scales were slate-grey when young but became golden as they matured. They had very long necks, serpentine heads bearing a pair of snail-like horns, sturdy bodies, and long tails. As they never emerged onto land, however, no-one had ever seen their limbs. These beasts' presence was confirmed by their loud, trumpeting cry.

Stewart Wavell's book, documenting Tasek Bera's dinosaurian 'water dragons'

and another dragon link I came across Dragons of Oceania

Oracle, I missed your Kamikaze links when reading the first time, thank you for posting. Never heard of them either will look around.

While in Indochina we spent hundreds of nights under double and triple canopy. There are things out there we never saw but could hear them eating, breakings bones. Sometimes with a fight at first then silence but for the breaking bones and slurping. and the scouts whether Chinese or Montagnard kept silent on the larger ones.

During night patrol we often found old unmarked temples with their roofs and walls overgrown with large tree roots, making them blend into the black nothingness of the jungle. There almost always was one or two candles visible recessed in a doorway, eerie , sometimes with a monks bald head visible in the reflected light. just sitting there in the lotus position. No we never made contact just too dangerous.

 

[Seven823One]

It is present in the Mesopotamian tradition, and some specimens are represented in the Ishtar gate, where they play the role of defenders

maybe it is me who wants to see the Mu šhu ššu in the Mayans

Do you think that Mesopotamian tradition predates Mesoamerican or vice versa, or were concurrent?
I believe, that I saw a shape of Mushussu dragon in the highlands of Sierra Madre in Oaxaca state. And I wrote this poem about it:

Where mushussu dragon nests on the mountaintops
Looking down the valleys on numerous human folks
Puffing clouds through rain and snow
From his nostrils to the land below

For thousands of years he guarded the treasure
Saved from the Great Flood
The treasure, that Gods had brought in there
From the land of Sumer and Akkad

Great Kings of the past tried their best
To get the treasure they came on a quest
They killed the dragon and burned his body
But the treasure was found by nobody...

I happened to be on that mountain
Deadly tired, I found a fountain...
Sometime later I was told by the seers
In the eye of the dragon filled with magical tears

I washed my body and cleaned my face
And was resurrected by the Gods' grace
The treasure well hidden from humanity
Was the fabled fountain of immortality.

 

[Akanah]

Could the ayers-rock be something like the sleeping eingana ?
Eingana had been a pregnant rainbow-serpent or dragon. She still reminds me of this kind of stegosaur at a temple.

 

[Akanah]

One day in November 2018, I heard strange noises coming from the sky for hours and recorded them. I have attached them as a cut together mp3 version.