Animal Symbolism

As we talked about today, Animals are highly used symbols in many different cultures. I found a website that does a pretty good job at displaying the symbolic meanings of many animals among various different cultures: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/animals2.htm

The site lists the different meanings of animals among Celtic mythology, Native American tradition, and Chinese horoscope cycles. I found this very interesting because the same animal might depict three different symbols, depending on which culture is being considered. For example, the serpents are described by Celtic mythology to symbolize trouble: "Whenever they appear, strife and infertility follow." To the Native Americans, serpents symbolize, "Power, Life force, Sexual potency." Yet according to Chinese tradition, a serpent is "observant, quick to anger, usually possesses great physical beauty and is not necessarily venomous except when protecting the family." This is only one example, but the point being that animals do serve as symbolic metaphors in various cultures and traditions. The fact this symbolism stretches across vast cultural barriers, points to the belief that holding animals as symbols is indeed hardwired into our beings somehow.