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Dragon Lore in the Archives: Happy Lunar New Year! 🐉

Dragon Lore in the Archives: Happy Lunar New Year! 🐉

Meghan Marino, Associate Manager, Field Marketing, Wiley

February 06, 2024

Happy Lunar New Year and welcome to the Year of the Dragon! A symbol of authority, imperial power, good fortune, and protection in East Asian countries, dragons have been a point of intrigue in global folklore for thousands of years. In religious traditions such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, dragons are honored as sources of strength and enlightenment. And even in our modern world, dragons are everywhere: from films such as Spirited Away to books like The Fourth Wing, games including Dark Souls, and series like Game of Thrones.

Join us in commemorating the Year of the Dragon as we enter the world of dragons as they appear throughout history on Wiley Digital Archives:

The Dragon Whose Hair Can Fight Off Bad Dreams

A manuscript on Balinese culture analyzes a traditional cultural dance in which the patron Barong, often depicted as a dragon, wards off the cruel witch, Rangda. Barong represents life and health and supposedly has hair that keeps a child from having bad dreams. And when the dragon roams the village streets, he brings health and safety with him.

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Gregory Bateson, Margaret Mead, Records of Publications, Series III: Publications, July 10, 1942, The New York Academy of Sciences archive.(Available via institutional or trial access)

 

Making a Proposal Official by Means of the Dragon

Among the many customs described in “The Land and the People of China,” lies a traditional wedding custom that formalizes a marriage proposal by means of a letter. The letter must bear the sacred symbols of eternal love: a phoenix (yin) and a dragon (yang). Without them, the engagement is not considered official.

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J. Thomson, Monographs, 1876, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) archive.(Available via institutional or trial access)

 

Hardwar, the Bringer of Salvation

In India lies the legend of the ancient dragon Hardwar, who bathes at the Vishnu Ghat on the fourteenth day of the dark half of each of the Hindu months. If you are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him, it is said that you will obtain salvation.

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William Crooke, Miscellaneous notes on folklore, magic, rites and customs, including prehistory, mainly India, n.d, The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland archive.

 

Questioning the Origins of the Chinese Dragon

Collateral from Henry N. Hutchinson discusses the geological origins of dragons and sea serpents. “The Chinese dragon appears to be a hybrid between serpent and Sumatran Tiger,” writes Hutchinson. As a prominent writer of geology, evolution, and paleontology, he further questions the complexities of dragon legends, exploring the narrative where reptiles were believed to belong to the secondary age, while humans were associated with the post-tertiary era.

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View the collection:
Henry N. Hutchinson, Miscellaneous notes on folklore, magic, rites and customs, including prehistory, mainly India, 17/1/ 99, The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland archive.
(Available via institutional or trial access)

 

May the Year of the Dragon bring you good fortune and exciting discoveries!

Wiley Digital Archives offers diverse resources to support your researchers across a wide span of subjects. Whether diving into folklore and mythology, researching the history of environmental protections, or pursuing other disciplines, we encourage you to sign up for a free trial to experience how our software can empower your faculty.

Wishing you a wonderful Year of the Dragon and may your research endeavors soar to new heights. Happy Lunar New Year! 🐉✨

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