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While there are many fantastical beasts
in the Celtic artistic repertoire, there are no
recognizable dragons until the coming of the
Vikings. Also, there are no references to these
creatures in early Irish and Welsh manuscripts.
Not until the Middle Ages do we see dragons
associated with the Arthurian myths. The Celts'
relationship with the Vikings is not clearly understood. While most of what the monks wrote
about Vikings was negative and there is no doubt
that they were a violent and savage people, but
the truth is that they successfully colonized
many of the countries they invaded and must have
had some more domestic virtues. The conquerors were violent -
but the settlers were farmers. In fact culturally
they were very similar to the ancient Celts, and
may have had much more in common with local
peasantry than the reclusive and isolated monks.
In
Viking culture, dragons were symbols of chaos. In
a circle, however, chaos was contained. They
believed there was a dragon encircling the world
with its tail in its mouth. At the end of the
world, Ragnarok, it would let go and chaos would
be released.
(See also Viking
Dragon #2)
All
brooches can also be ordered as necklaces
origin
artifact:
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Colours: Blue blend
Size: 1 3/4" diam
Colours: Light blue/purple
!Colours: Green blend w/ gold foil
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