What does the dragon symbolize in Celtic mythology?
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There is a dragon on the Welsh flag, and in Welsh school we were taught that it symbolyses strenght, power and force. We are only a little nation, the dragon represented our willingness to fight for what was rightfully ours. \nThe dragon would have been a natural symbol for those who wished to preserve their Romanised way of life against the barbarian invader. \nThe ancient poets Aneirin and Taliesin use the Welsh word for dragon "draig" in the sense of "warrior" or "leader" and this usage remained to the Middle Ages. In the Historia Brittonum (ascribed to Nennius) of around 800 A.D. the dragon is seen as a symbol of national independence in the story of the red dragon battling with the white dragon of the Saxon enemy.\nBasiclaly, Welsh V English.. Still on going!
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I had a look on the web and found this:\n\nCERIDWEN (Female - Celtic/Gaelic) Beautiful Daughter \n\nIf you go to something like google or ask.co.uk and type in "babies names" you get a selection of sites come up.  On the site listed below I found you can search for meanings too.  Have fun choosing :o)
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Ther isn't just one major Goddess in Celtic religions - for one thing, "Celtic" includes Welsh, Irish, and Scots.\n\nAnd, in reality, the "Celts" lived across Europe for a long time; the reson that most of what we know about their worship comes from the British Isles because that's where the lore was preserved.\n\nThis is a good resource:\nhttp://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/deitiesc.html
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The "woman" represents Israel and the "crown of twelve stars" represents the twelve tribes of Israel.\n\na)The Woman.........Israel, 12:1,2\nb)The Red Dragon....Satan, 12:3,4\nc)The Child of the Woman.....Jesus Christ, 12:5,6\nd)Micheal, the Archangel, Wars with the Dragon,..12:7-12\ne)The Dragon persecutes the Woman,.....12:13-16\nd)Remnant of Israel,......12:17
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The deer was said to be a fairy creature that could pass between the world's. This was especially true for a white deer. Fionn's wife Sabha became a deer when she went to the Otherworld. Beautiful women frequently became deer in many tales while fleeing from hunters. The Druid Tuan mac Carill is the sole survivor of a group of early Partholanian Irish settlers. He lives at first as a wildman of the woods eventually becoming a stag, an eagle, a salmon and eventually is reincarnated as himself at a much later date to give the ancient history of Ireland to the more recent settlers. \n\nEngland \n\nThe symbol and reverence of the stag amongst the Anglo-Saxons is a tradition that is very likely to be rooted in the most ancient of Germanic culture and religion. In England we know such reverence of stags was already a strong custom even in the days of Saint Augustine, for he is quoted as condemning the 'filthy practice of dressing up like a horse or stag' , a tradition that seems to resemble closely the English custom of hoodening. Like so many of the other animal symbols connected to the Anglo-Saxons, we only have to look at the Sutton Hoo ship burial for evidence. Within the burial was found a spectacular sceptre that was topped off with a beautiful stag figure. The sceptre to the King who carried it symbolised his power and high status. And it could be that \n\namongst the Heathens the stag was regarded as the most noble and proud of animals, and would therefore be a most appropriate symbol of a King and his leadership. Extremely strong evidence pointing to the use of stag images, but not only their images, but the worship of stags too, is found in a quote from Saint Aldhelm who wrote to a friend the following: \n\n'where once the crude pillars (ermula) of the same foul snake and the stag were worshipped with coarse stupidity in profane shrines' \n\nA later, medieval, English addition to the Stag legend is that of Herne the Hunter. The name Herne maybe a linguistic cognate with the Celtic Cernunnos. In modern times his shamanic-style appearance in the TV series 'Robin Hood' has increased his popularity. \n\nWales/Cornwall/Brittany \n\nIn Celtic mythology, the deer is a magical creature, able to move between the worlds. As in Eire many tales have humans transformed into deer. For example, St. Patrick was said to have transformed himself and his companions into deer in order to escape a trap laid by a pagan king. In the Welsh tale of Culhwch and Olwen, the stag is one of the oldest animals in the world, along with the blackbird, the owl, the eagle and the salmon. \n\nThe antlers of the stag are compared to tree-branches and thus may represent fertility. Since they are shed and re-grown every year, they may also symbolise rejuvenation and rebirth. Cernunnos, the Celtic Horned God, was depicted with the antlers of a stag; he is said to be a god of fertility and plenty, and to be the Lord of the Beasts. According to some, his antlers symbolise a radiation of heavenly light. Images of stags were supposedly used to symbolise Cernunnos in non-human form. \n\nOther than that, white deer are very rare. less than 1/4 ever survive to adulthood, being easy targets for preditors and trophy hunters, not to mention the fish and wildlife comittee in certain places.
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THE Irish, according to the saying of a wise man of the race, are the last of the 305 great Celtic nations of antiquity spoken of by Josephus, the Jewish historian; and they alone preserve inviolate the ancient venerable language, minstrelsy, and Bardic traditions, with the strange and mystic secrets of herbs, through whose potent powers they can cure disease, cause love or hatred, discover the hidden mysteries of life and death, and dominate over the fairy wiles or the malific demons.\nThe ancient people used to divine future events, victory in wars, safety in a dangerous voyage, triumph of a projected undertaking, success in love, recovery from sickness, or the approach of death; all through the skilful use of herbs, the knowledge of which had come down to them through the earliest traditions of the human race. One of these herbs, called the Fairy-plant, was celebrated for its potent power pf divination; but only the adepts knew the mystic manner of its preparation for use.\nThere was another herb of which a drink was made, called the Bardic potion, for the Bards alone had the secret of the herb, and of the proper mode of treatment by which its mystic power could be revealed. This potion they gave their infant children at their birth, for it had the singular property of endowing the recipient with a fairy sweetness of voice of the most rapturous and thrilling charm. And instances are recorded of men amongst the Celtic Bards, who, having drunk of this potion in early life, were ever after endowed with the sweet voice, like fairy music, that swayed the hearts of the hearers as they chose to love or war, joy or sadness, as if by magic influence, or lulled them into the sweet calm of sleep. Such, according to the Bardic legends, was the extraordinary power of voice possessed by the great Court Minstrel of Fionn Ma-Coul, who resided with the great chief at his palace of Almhuin, and always sat next him at the royal table.\nThe virtue of herbs is great, but they must be gathered at night, and laid in the hand of a dead man to hold. There are herbs that produce love, and herbs that produce sterility; but only the fairy doctor knows the secrets of their power, and he will reveal the knowledge to no man unless to an adept. The wise women learn the mystic powers from the fairies, but how they pay for the knowledge none dare to tell.\nThe fairy doctors are often seized with trembling while uttering a charm, and look round with a scared glance of terror, as if some awful presence were beside them. But the people have, the most perfect faith in the herb-men and wise women, and the faith may often work the cure.\nThere are seven herbs of great value and power; they are ground ivy, vervain, eyebright, groundsel, foxglove, the bark of the elder-tree, and the young shoots of the hawthorn.\nNine balls of these mixed together may be taken, and afterwards a potion made of bog-water and salt, boiled in a vessel, with a piece of money and an elf-stone. The elf-stone is generally found near a rath; it has great virtues, but being once lifted up by the spade it must never again touch the earth, or all its virtue is gone. (This elf-stone is in reality only an ancient stone arrowhead.)
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uhhhh... it's all scrambled up.\n"y ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn" means "the red dragon leads the way" in welsh.\n"y ddraig goch" is "the red dragon" and refers to the national flag of wales.
122492
Many people believe that a snake represents the devil or evil in a dream. It goes back to the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis.
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Look here.... or you can search again if you meant dragons...\n\nhttp://images.google.com/images?complete=1&q=dracons&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
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The Beast Exposed\n\nThe Bible book of Daniel sheds much light on the meaning of symbolic beasts. Chapter 7 contains a vivid tableau of "four huge beasts"—a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fearsome beast with big teeth of iron. (Daniel 7:2-7) Daniel tells us that these beasts represent "kings," or political kingdoms, that rule in succession over vast empires.—Daniel 7:17, 23.\n\nRegarding the beast of Revelation 13:1, 2, The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible points out that it "combines in itself the joint characteristics of the four beasts of Daniel's vision . . . Accordingly, this first beast [of Revelation] represents the combined forces of all political rule opposed to God in the world." This observation is affirmed by Revelation 13:7, which says of the beast: "Authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation."*\n\nWhy does the Bible use beasts as symbols of human rulership? For at least two reasons. First, because of the beastly record of bloodshed that governments have accrued over the centuries. "War is one of the constants of history," wrote historians Will and Ariel Durant, "and has not diminished with civilization or democracy." How true that "man has dominated man to his injury"! (Ecclesiastes 8:9) The second reason is that "the dragon [Satan] gave to the beast its power and its throne and great authority." (Revelation 12:9; 13:2) Accordingly, human rulership is a product of the Devil, thus reflecting his beastly, dragonlike disposition.—John 8:44; Ephesians 6:12.\n\nThis does not mean, however, that every human ruler is a direct tool of Satan. Indeed, in one sense, human governments serve as "God's minister," giving structure to human society, without which chaos would rule. And some leaders have protected fundamental human rights, including the right to engage in true worship—something that Satan does not want. (Romans 13:3, 4; Ezr 7:11-27; Acts 13:7) Still, because of the Devil's influence, no human or human institution has ever been able to bring lasting peace and security to the people.# —John 12:31.\n\nThey represent the world powers that started from Babylon up to today. It was a means for his servants to recognize when the end of times were approaching.   During the last world power  (The united nations) his return would be here.
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The Green Giant is a celtic Myth which appears in Arthurian legendry most famously as well as in others. He is thought to be some kind of forest god.\n\nIn the Irish version he is Cu Roi. I haven't found a connection between him and a mermaid or burning gold. So that may be just for the comic.\n\nBreifly\n\nThe Green Knight (or Giant) enters Arthurs halls and offers a large sum of money to anyone who will cut off his head, on the understanding that the green knihgt can cut his head off in a years time.\n\nThe first knight cuts off the giants head. The body gets up picks up the head and replaces it and walks off. A year later the giant turns up and the knight doesnt. \n\nSo the same thing happens.\n\nThe next year Sir Gawain chops off the giants head. He goes for a year long quest where he meets a husband and wife. The husband says stay with us, but if my wife gives you anything you must give it to me.\nThe first night she gives him a ribbon, which he hands over. The second night she gives him a handkerchief which he hands over, the third night she gives him a scarf and a kiss. He hands over the scarf.\n\nThe next day the Green Knight turns up at the court. So does Gawain. \n\nThe Green Giant hits once with the axe, but diesn't make a mark.\n\nHe hits him again with the axe, again no mark.\n\nThe third time is just enough to draw bloody. The Giant stands up and says Gawain has won the prize, and that he would not have marked him at all if he had kept his promise to give him everything his wife did.\n\nCelts began up in very northen Europe and migrated South and West. It is Possible that the legend has a Northern origin, but I havent heard of a similar story further north than England/Ireland
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The elephant is part of the Coat of Arms of Coventry.\n\nHere is the explanation as to why:\n\nMary Dormer Harris, the local historian thought that the elephant had a religious symbolism. The ancient 'Bestiaries' works of unnatural History, treat animals as religious types, and it is from these works that many of the animals and birds in church architecture derive. \n\nThe elephant is seen, not only as a beast so strong that he can carry a tower - Coventry's castle - full of armed men, but also as a symbol of Christ's redemption of the human race. The animal, according to one of the 'Bestiary' stories, is supposed to sleep standing, leaning against a tree. Hunters sever the trunk, and he falls helpless to the ground, until a small elephant approaches and pulls him up with his trunk. \n\nThe elephant, then, is a dragon slayer and is associated with a tree. There is a now forgotten tradition of dragon-slaying in the neighbourhood - Coventry is said to be the birthplace of St George, who slew the dragon. \n\nIn the medieval mind, the elephant suggested the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and did not merely symbolise strength.
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Dinosaur is a word that was created after the King James Version of the Bible...There are references to dragons in Job and Isiah and a few other places.  Which should not be that big of a surprise because even in the Chinese calender there is a dragon. Which you can rule as mythology or whatever....but its not random to just throw a dragon in there with a rat, pig, and other common animals.
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TIAMAT: The Primordial Dragon Goddess of Creative Chaos.\n\nShe lived happily in the salt water below the mists of time, joined by APSU, the wettest Water God ever.\n\nTheir peace was disturbed eventually by a bubbling of silt and up popped a couple of beings, who soon gave birth to a lot of noisy Gods. When APSU objected, EA kindly put him to sleep on a permanent basis.\n\nTIAMAT, left alone, became decidedly tetchy. She ripped up anything the Gods tried to create and had them hiding and huddling in fear. Something had to be done.\n\nEA eventually had a fine upstanding son called MARDUK, who was egged on to become their champion. 'You're young, handsome, and such a brave guy... You do this and you'll never have to buy another drink.'\n\nFlattery got them everywhere - after practicing martial arts he was kitted out with the latest in advanced weaponry (a bow, a net and a mace) and set off in his storm chariot.\n\nMeanwhile, TIAMAT had met another dragon. His name was KINGU, and he was busy taking her mind off her woes with a little romance and as much monster production as he could get away with.\n\nHowever, KINGU was all talk and no fangs - and when he saw MARDUK with all his fighting paraphernalia he fled in panic, leaving TIAMAT to go it alone. She rushed at MARDUK jaws agape and he hurled his secret weapon into her mouth. This was a raging storm and she could not chomp. She was then transfixed by an arrow and enmeshed in a net before being whopped by a mace.\n\nThe junior dragons were all captured and KINGU surrendered the Tablets of Destiny, which TIAMAT had given him for a wedding present in return for his life.\n\nMARDUK chopped up TIAMAT'S corpse and used it to create all the bits of the World and Universe the Gods hadn't managed to finish. Finally a God's Court decided that KINGU would have to go - but as a special concession his blood was used to create mankind. 'Don't think of it as being sentenced to death - think of it as being sentenced to life everlasting on a massive scale.'\n\nMARDUK now took over and drew up plans for his very own kingdom of Babylon.
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It is Gaelic for "young creature."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(zodiac)
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shouldn't it be Celtic?\n\nIn any case, take a picture of it, upload to http://www.imageshack.us/ , post link here