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Pentir
Pumlumon
Tourism
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The Red Dragon of Wales
The Red Dragon - Fact or Fantasy?
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Dragon have always been with us in Mythology. Every country, cult
and civilisation has tales of Dragons. Enigmatic Dragons from China
- yellow flying Beasts, sinuous and fearsome; Dragons from mediaeval
England, fire-breathing, maiden-capturing behemoths challenging reckless
knights. And - Y DDRAIG GOCH, the most magical and mysterious Dragon
of them all - the Red Dragon of Wales. These are all legendary creatures,
fantasies of fairy tale threat and menace - or are they?
The stories of the vivid, winged dragons of the East
are ageless, and any grain of truth has long since been lost in
legend. There may be a possible explanation for the existence of
the gargantuan monsters of English adventure; could they have actually
been the last of a dying race of dinosaurs? Would they have been
cousin to the Loch Ness 'monster' and its kin? They may well have
existed in fact, and simply have been the victims of exaggeration
by eye-witnesses and pursued to final extinction by glory-seekers.
Although we have no true record of these fabulous
creatures who inhabit our imagination and our dreams, we do have
positive proof of the first stirrings of primitive life which would
eventually inhabit the 4,600 million years old Mona Complex, here
in Wales. In comparatively 'modern times', a mere 500 million years
ago, the Ordovician Period of the Lower Paleozoic Era saw the formation
of such geological series of rock layers now recognised in Wales
as Arenig, Llanvirn, Llandeilo and Caradoc. In the Silurian Period,
some 430 million years ago, a series which we know today as Llandovery
was formed. It was during this dawn of evolutionary life, that the
first Trilobites appeared.
From this period in time until the Upper Palaeozoic
Era, life was limited to Trilobitomorpha; it wasn't until the Mesozoic
Era and during the Triassic and Jurassic Periods that the early
carnivorous and herbivorous reptiles began to make their appearance,
roughly between 280 to 190 million years ago. Perhaps it was here,
amongst the unchanging Welsh mountains, that a 'dragon' lived, made
its home among the formidable peaks, and 70 million years later,
the last one of its kind laid down its bones in these self-same
mountains - to become immortal in legend as the "Red Dragon of Wales".
The Standard
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The Standard of Wales, a crimson Dragon on fine
sarcenet of green and white was held aloft in legend by King
Arthur, and in truth by brave Cadwaladr, a warrior prince of
the seventh century. This bold banner was also the Standard
of Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great), whose political unity of
Wales in the ninth century was inspiring. Later, in the twelfth
century, another Cadwaladr, the infamous brother of Owain Gwynedd,
flew the Red Dragon Standard from the battlements of his castle
in Aberystwyth.
A further historical and geographic link in this strange
chain of events was forged at the turn of the fifteenth century
when the followers of the great Owain Glyndwr in the year
1401, under the self-same banner of the Red Dragon, fought
for Freedom and defeated the mighty army of
Henry the Fourth in an awesome battle on the banks of the
river Hyddgen, high in the Plynlimon mountains - not more
than a stone's throw from where the Nant-y-Moch reservoir
is today, and where the precious 'fossil' was found.
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The Legend
Fascinated by the wealth of dragon legend, the Dragon
Lady researched into the history of the Red Dragon of Wales and
the prehistoric origins of the land, and an abundance of fascinating
facts, legends, spells and superstitions began to emerge. Over time,
and by dint of painstaking archaic translation, some of these legends
have been incorporated into Red Dragon lore. The 'Dragon's Wish,'
is one such example which, albeit roughly, translates as:
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"Touch my Crown and make a Wish
But Secret, keep your Thought;
For if you Tell, and break the Spell,
Your Wish shall come to Nought."
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Another example of dragon-lore is 'The Blessing' and 'The Curse'.
To those who choose to take a Dragon as a friend we bestow the Blessing:
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THE BLESSING -
If the Dragon be Thine
By Fair means and True,
Good Luck and Good Fortune Will e'er follow You -
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But take care - to protect ourselves we will invoke the Curse:
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THE CURSE -
If Thee Takes a Dragon
By Foul means or Force
On Thy head will Fall
THE DRAGON'S CURSE.
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The legends of the Red Dragon are found in locations a thousand
miles apart and in a space of time divided by a thousand years.
From Merlin's mythology, to the Book of Revelations in the Bible,
tales of Dragons abound. Welsh folk lore tells of two great Dragons,
the Red Dragon of the Britons and the White Dragon of the Saxons,
who surfaced from a subterranean lake to battle for supremacy; the
scarlet Dragon, triumphing. From the Book of Revelations comes the
prediction of a "wonder of Heaven", a Red Dragon, " - spewing forth
a flood which was swallowed by the Earth".
The underground lake of Welsh saga, perhaps? Speculation,
maybe, but the two stories from aeons and leagues apart are too
close to be mere coincidence.
All legend has its feet in fact, and it is highly
possible that the Red Dragon really did exist and was native to
the Plynlimon mountains long, long ago and from whom the image on
the Flag of Wales was taken.
If a real Welsh 'dragon' did exist, it is unlikely
to have been the great, flying reptile of myth, but was most probably
a small, exquisite jewel-like, brilliant creature, whose habitat
was the rocky, mountainous heights of the crags and outcroppings,
and who glided on scaly wings in its hunt for prey and its search
for a mate. The colour? Only imagination can supply that - but it
is now accepted that dinosaurs, far from being a uniform drab green
or grey, were more likely to have been garbed in scintillating colours
- much as birds, fish and insects are today; so, it may not have
been so far from the truth for this small 'dragon' to have displayed
itself, chameleon - like, in splendid shades of scarlet and crimson.
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| The real Welsh Dragon? |
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It is said that Y DDRAIG GOCH protects and defends
the homes and families of all those who truly love and cherish this
ancient, beautiful land; whatever belief or opinion is held one
fact will always remain: in the hearts of all true believers, the
RED DRAGON OF WALES will live forever.
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