The Mythical Oriental Dragon Symbol

By John Chan

We will hereby see the characteristics of the Chinese symbol that make them honorable and their association with the important occasion of Chinese New Year.

The two most vital ingredients of the Chinese culture are the pictures of the Chinese dragon and the auspicious event of the Chinese New Year. They have been an integral part of the Chinese culture for thousands of years now and continue even to the present day. Besides, these two things have an uncanny link between them.

The dragon has become a symbol which is immediately linked to the Chinese culture. The west has come to know of this dragon symbol from martial art flicksand art work from China. For the Chinese people, this symbol of dragon is a highly honorable mythological animal that is respected for its rarity, magnificence and spiritual powers.

However, keeping respect of the Chinese traditions, one must know that the Chinese New Year occasion is not celebrated on the same day as the western world or for that matter when the entire world celebrates. This is because, the rest of the world goes-by the Gregorian solar calendar whereas the Chinese always followed the lunar calendar. Hence, the New Year day follows the cycle of the moon and falls on a different day from the western New Year day.

The New Year event is a magnificent time to be in China. People are high on festivity and enjoyment. As the ancient Chinese culture goes, these people link animal symbols with the change of time and year. There are twelve animal signs in total which keep reappearing after every twelfth year. So the sign of dragon comes into full force and fresh spirituality after the end of every twelfth year.

The Chinese New Year symbol of the dragon holds good to indicate overwhelming power. Generally the dragon image is imagined to be a symbol of spirituality and unforeseen power and rage. The anger of the Chinese dragon however, is somehow always justified and is used to represent the correction of any mistake. In this way the angry dragon image is a positive image and often inspiring.

They say the streets have rights upon you. If you hang around on the streets and see some evil you then it is upon you to stop it with your hands if you have the might. If you don't then at least make an attempt to stop it with your tongue. And if you cannot even do that then at least in your heart know that the act is evil and this is a very low level of faith.

What the image of a dragon does is to eradicate the wrong doers. It does not represent wrong doings but works in counter-action. The best option is to avoid doing evil and engaging in doing right things. Hence the Chinese New Year symbol of the dragon is nothing but a movement to bring about peace in a festive and spiritual way. - 33385

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