Do you Believe in Santa Claus?

Norman Rockwell, 1939

When the first December frost arrives we look to the holidays in anticipation of celebration, the season of hope and enchantment, perhaps the very time of year when we first learned about magic. For on Christmas Day, as children we knew anything was possible. Our wishes and hopes would be rewarded when we discovered gifts under the Christmas tree, at some point we knew not to ask from whom the gifts were bequeathed. Then as we grew and developed, our minds introduced us to an age of skepticism. At a certain point we are challenged with one simple question: "Do you believe in Santa Claus?"

Coca-Cola Santa Claus

There is an ignorant claim that the Santa Claus we know today has been perpetuated by the Coca-Cola Company as a ploy to boost profit and sales. This is far from true, Santa Claus has a rich history, he is the culmination of winter tradition that transcends more cultures than can be counted. He has many names: St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, La Befana, Christkindl (Kris Kringle), Kolyada, Sinterklaas, Père Noël, etc.

St. Nicholas, Arthur Rackham 1907

Anthropologically Christmas is a celebration of light, the festival in which on the Winter Solstice ancients would feast and honor the mid-point of harsh winter. Yuletide fires honored the sun whose warmth would return in the spring. Bonfires evolved and became candle wicks lit within trees, a continued tradition to honor the light of the fire that provides warmth from the bitter cold and a symbol for the sun who retreats in the winter. When ancient primitive tribes gathered in circles to honor the solstice they had many Shamanistic rituals. One was to dress in their finest furs with masks and travel from lodging to lodging demanding victuals. Within these circles one Elder who was considered the Patriarch was honored because it was believed that he alone harnessed the power to bring back the light. 

'English masked balls of the 17th Century dubbed him Noël, and he is the forerunner of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) and Father Christmas.' ---Edouard Brasey, Faeries & Demons

Anne Stokes

Many of our modern depictions of Santa Claus have developed from Norse mythology. Norse legends weave around a central god figure called Odin. Like Zeus, Odin roamed the world taking part in many activities. The night of the Winter Solstice was set aside as the great hunt for Asgard, a time when the air is filled with the sounds of galloping hooves as Odin and his knights soar through the sky. Odin is followed by a great league of elves and spirits. Mortals upon the earth who offered him reverence were bestowed with gifts.

George Von Rosen 1886

"So we abandoned the former God Odin and his company, but everything that was once attributed to him and everything that used to be done in his honor such as, among other things, leaving the last ear of corn for his horse, now shifted partly to Saint Nicolas; we mounted the bishop on a horse, gave him a black valet with a whip and a bag of cinders and called them Saint Nicolas the Demon." --- Rond den Herd, Guido Guezelle

'The Wild Hunt', Peter Nicloai 1872

Odin's flight, gifts, elves and even his war horse were handed to Saint Nicholas.

St. Nicholas Center, Holland

There are many legends both light hearted and dark in which St. Nicholas helps men and children alike by performing various miracles. Because he could calm storms he is known as the patron Saint of Sailors and because he restored to life three murdered boys he is the patron Saint of Children. 


St. Nicholas of Christian legend was a priest from a wealthy family in Patara near Myra (Asia-Minor) in what is now modern day Turkey. Born around 280 AD he was known as a kind man who traveled the country gifting his wealth to the less fortunate. Some legends regard him as a powerful man who had a talent for miracles. St. Nicholas was extremely devoted to the less fortunate and especially children. He had a peculiar way of hiding gold coins in peoples shoes because he was modest and never wanted to be thanked. One of his greatest legends begins a such: A poor man had three daughters whom he could not marry off, the reason being that each had very little to no dowry. In these times when a female child reached a certain age and could not be married off they were sold into prostitution. Legend has it that when Nicholas learned about the girls plight, he decided to take action. When the first and second daughters came to age he tossed each a bag of gold through an open window while they were resting in the night. For the third daughter he discovered the poor man searching for his benefactor and in an effort to remain anonymous tossed the third bag of gold down the chimney. (It is in the memory of this generous moment that children gather before the chimney.) Each daughter then had a dowry and could be married happily.

St. Nicholas Giving Alms, Jan Heinsch

'During a famine in 311-312 CE, a ship full of wheat docked in the port of Myra, headed for the Emperor in Constantinople. St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, asked if the sailors wouldn't mind giving him some wheat for the poor, but the sailors refused, because the Emperor had been promised a certain weight of wheat so they couldn't give any away. Nicholas told them whatever they gave him, the sailors would suffer no losses. And indeed, when they arrived in Constantinople, the weight was somehow the same.' ---gizmodo.com 

Vintage Father Christmas Card

 Though now Father Christmas is synonymous with Santa Claus he is actually a much older folkloric figure, a personification of Christmas itself. In 15th Century England a personified 'Christmas' figure, taken from ancient celebrations, traditionally an old man at adult parties, would announce the birth of Christ and encourage every one to drink and be merry. (These circumstances are expressed in an ancient carol written by Richard Smart, Rector of Plymtree from 1435 to 1477.)

Vintage Father Christmas Card

16th Century Elizabethan era defined Father Christmas with green and sometimes scarlet robes lined with fur.

Vintage Father Christmas Card

"The specific depiction of Christmas as a merry old man seems to have emerged in the early 17th century. The rise of puritanism had led to increasing condemnation of the traditions handed down from pre-Reformation times, especially communal feasting and drinking. As debate intensified, those writing in support of the traditional celebrations often personified Christmas as a venerable, kindly old gentleman, given to good cheer but not excess. They referred to this personification as "Christmas", "Old Christmas" or "Father Christmas". At the time "Father" was a title sometimes given to older men worthy of respect: "---wikipedia 

Kansas City Repertory Theatre

In the 18th Century Father Christmas, a common figure at holiday parties was utilized as a particular brand to inspire generosity, differing from our modern Santa he spends his holiday time feasting and drinking. A proper depiction of this development is found in the 'Ghost of Christmas Present' in Charles Dickens immortal classic A Christmas Carol (1843). The Ghost of Christmas Present is a boisterous giant who wears a green robe lined with fur. He embodies the spirit of Christmas and carries a torch which is reminiscent of the bright fires in ancient solstice ritual, he can anthropologically be compared to the ancient Shamanistic Elders who were believed to have the power of light. 

'A Visit from St. Nicholas', Thomas Nast 1881

The most notable contribution to Santa Claus as we know him comes from famed author Clement Clark Moore in his poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, first published in the New York Sentinel in 1823. This is the beloved poem that begins: T'was the Night Before Christmas.

   He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

'A Visit from St. Nicholas', Arthur Rackham 1849

Clement C. Moore gave St. Nicholas a more elvish appeal, defining his white beard and large round belly. His borrowed aspect of multiple reindeer versus a single horse has remained a North American staple. Santa Claus and his eight reindeer have been a part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City ever since 1924. Santa's float is the last in the parade. He is considered the grand marshal of Christmas and once his float is seen it is arguably acceptable to begin holiday festivities. 

Natalie Wood & Edmund Gwenn, 1947

With the development of talking pictures Santa Claus has a history of appearing in cinema. His most notable portrayal is seen in the 1947 film A Miracle on 34th Street. 34th Street is the famous street in which Santa Claus was first welcomed into Herald Square after the very first Macy's Day Parade. In A Miracle on 34th Street Santa Claus saves the Macy's Day Parade when he replaces an intoxicated Santa impersonator. He then goes on to fill his role at the Macy's department store. After a series of events Kris, as he calls himself, is put on trial and a Judge must determine if Santa truly exists. This film is an instant classic, it challenges Christmas perceptions and the power of belief. 

Edmund Gwenn 1947

"You think I'm a fraud, don't you...I'm not just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit and affects a jolly demeanor. You know I'm a symbol, I'm a symbol of the human ability to suppress the selfish and the hateful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives. If you can't believe, if you can't accept anything on faith then you are doomed for a life dominated on doubt." ---Kris Kringle, A Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

Vintage Santa Claus

The most beautiful examination of Santa Claus was written as a response letter to a little girl in 1897 named Virginia O'Hanlon. Virginia took it upon herself to write to a prominent New York newspaper called The Sun after she had inquired about the existence of Santa Claus with her own father. Her father inspired her by saying: "If it is in the sun, then it is so." The Sun's editor who received the letter, Francis Pharcellus Church was then given the opportunity to philosophically answer the girls question and because he did not dismiss the child it is perhaps the most beloved editorial of all time. 

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety Fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

-----------------

"Is There a Santa Claus?" reprinted from the September 21, 1897, number of The New York Sun. 

Source Material:

The Enchanted World Series: The Book of Christmas, Time-Life Books,1986
Faeries and Demons and Other Magical Creatures, Edouard Brasey, Barnes and Noble Books New York, 2002
St. Nicholas to Santa --- National Geographic.com
11 Insane Things You Didn't Know About Santa Claus --- i09.gizmodo.com
The Legend of St. Nicholas --- History.com
wikipedia.com
dictionary.com

Origin of the Jack O' Lantern

What would October be without Jack-O-Lanterns? Holiday celebrations are incomplete without pumpkins with twisted expressions and glowing eyes. Traditional carved pumpkins present a head with perfectly triangular cut eyes and a nose, the mouth, a crooked crescent smile typically dances between menacing and oafish. The harvest would be nothing without this icon. A carved pumpkin, in ways, is a symbol that rises above witches on broomsticks and dancing skeletons. The history of the Jack-O-Lantern is long and predates most of the traditions that we celebrate on Halloween/Samhain. The twisted expression on a carved pumpkins face, in legend, is there to ward off spirits who for one night roam the earth with malicious intentions, although the true historical relevance for our modern Jack-O-Lantern rests with the flame inside.

Will-o'-the Wisp, Arthur Hughes

Ghostly apparitions and unusual lights have been documented all over the world as early as the middle ages. One particular phenomena known as Ignis Fatuus (Medieval Latin for: The Foolish Fire), more popularly Will-O-The-Wisp appears as a ball of light, sometimes a dancing flame over water but most traditionally found in bogs and marshes. It recedes if approached, drawing travelers into unknown territory and sometimes towards a dark precipice. The Will-O-The-Wisp is related to faeries and depending on the region is known to be a trickster. When regarded as a death omen and found in graveyards it is known to be called corpse-candle or dead-candle. Most popularly in English folk belief and European Folklore it is called: hobby-lantern (Worcestershire, Hertfordshire, East Anglia, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and west Wales), friar's lantern (Wales), jenny-burnt-tail (Oxfordshire), jack-o'-lantern (Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire).

Alan Lee, Faeries, 1978

Will-O-The-Wisp comes form "wisp", which is an old world bundle of sticks used as a torch. Will refers to he that holds it, "Will-of-the-torch". This idea holds up to Jack-of-the-lantern or jenny-with-the-lantern, each etymological references to figures with lanterns and lights. Paranormal enthusiasts refer them as orbs. In ancient folk-tales told in Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland protagonists named Will or Jack are doomed to hunt through the marshes for the unobtainable orb. The most popular name Jack comes from an old tale in Ireland in which Jack is referred to as Stingy Jack or Drunk Jack. Drunk Jack makes a bargain with the devil by offering his soul in exchange for a bar tab. Thereafter Jack coaxes the devil into climbing a tree and then carves a cross on the bark below. The devil forgives Jack's debt in exchange for his freedom. Because of his malicious behavior Jack is debarred from heaven and after a great amount of time asks for a place in hell. The devil denies him but as an aid offers an ember to light his way through the twilight world where lost souls are condemned. Jack takes the ember and places it within a carved turnip to use as a lantern. Thus Jack-o'-the-lantern.  

Marc Dalessio

Will-O-The-Wisp is seen with various tricksters in folklore such as Puck or Robin Goodfellow and the Phooka. The Púca in Irish lore is known for to help or hinder a figure, sometimes leading them to their demise.

Arthur Rackham, 1905

"Various legends account for Ignus Fatuus. Sometimes it is thought to be a tricksy BOGGART, and where it is called 'Hobbley's lantern', this is plainly so; sometimes ghostly in origin, a soul for some sin could not rest. For instance, a man who had moved his neighbors landmarks would be doomed to haunt the area with a flickering light. In Shropshire, Will the Smith, after being given a second spell of life by St. Peter, spent it in such wickedness that he was debarred both from Heaven and Hell. The most the Devil would do for him was to give him a piece of burning pit coal to warm himself, with which he flickers over boggy ground to allure poor wanders to their death. In other versions of the tale, the smith tricks the Devil into a steel purse, in which he so hammers him that the Devil dare not admit him into Hell, but in this version the smith tricks his way into Heaven. In Lincolnshire fen country, the WILL O' THE WYKES are Bogles, intent on nothing but evil." ---Katherine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies

Will O The Wisp, Tom Shropshire

The Will-O-The-Wisp are not unlike Pixies, a type of faerie creature who is known to mislead travelers. They are known for their pranks, often leading humans into the deep and dangerous faerie realm. In old world Europe it was a dangerous thing to be Pixie-led: an expression of leading humans astray. J. M. Barrie the author of Peter Pan must have combined elements of the pixie with the Will-O-The-Wisp when creating Tinker Bell for her most definitive attribute is her light.

There was in every hollow

A hundred wry mouthed wisps.

---Dafydd ap Gwilym (trans. Wirt Sikes) 1340

Brian Froud, Pinterest

The Will-O-The-Wisp is not unknown to science, Sir Isaac Newton mentions them in his 1704 opus Opticks. Researchers have developed mundane explanations for their existence basing the occurrence on marsh gasses, methane, formed from rotting vegetation and ignited by phosphene. The gas in these circumstances is thought to ignite spontaneously establishing a floating flame. The sightings have often been associated to ball lightning. Though science may try to explain faeries, the truth is that the Will-O-The-Wisp is quite unobtainable. The phenomena of the Will-O-The-Wisp has all but diminished and in the last 100 years sightings have become less frequent. Perhaps the over-developed world has swept away bogs and marshes, the very landscapes in which they are found or perhaps they tradition and superstition evolved for there continue to be documented cases for mysterious lights in the sky. 

Source Material:

• An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, Katherine Briggs, Pantheon Books, New York 1976
• More English Fairy Tales, Collected by Joseph Jacobs, Dover Publications, New York 1967
• mysteriousbritain.co.uk
• inamidst.com
• wikipedia.com
• pitt.edu
• merriam-webster.com

The Scarecrow

Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, Paramount Pictures 1999

The Scarecrow is a global figure tied to nearly every culture, it stands out historically as an image synonymous with agriculture and harvest. There has never been a comprehensive study on the history of these figures, although the mere image can be viewed and examined anthropologically as their presence has been known to society for quite sometime. Some of the earliest Scarecrows are known to have been placed along the Nile River by ancient Egyptians most distinctively to ward off flocks of quail, who were considered a major pest to crop fields. Ancient Greece had a festival for Priapus, the son of the god Dionysus and and goddess Aphrodite. Priapus was honored as the guardian of vegetation, gardens and livestock, a symbol for health and fertility mostly honored in gardens and homes. Wooden figures of Priapus were built and placed among crops as guardians of agriculture. He was painted purple with a club in one hand to scare the birds and a sickle in the other as a symbol for hopeful harvest.

18th Century Icelandic Manuscript

Ancient images of the Norse god Odin with his two ravens Huginn and Muninn are thought to be early inspirations for the Scarecrow. In Germany Scarecrows were crafted into witches whose flailing arms cast curses against those who dared to invade their territory. Early German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania in the 1800's were among the first to tie red handkerchiefs to their mannequins in an effort to humanize them, they called them "Bootzamon" whose english translation is Bogeyman. Bogey stems from Bogie which in ancient folklore is name given to one of the most mischievous and frightening creatures, whose sole delight is in the torment of mankind, this figure is attached to the Unseelie Court (a grouping of malevolent creatures/ faeries in Celtic lore. This is perhaps the birth of the popular dark figure of the bogeyman.)

Pumpkinrot.com

Before stick men, children were labored in Medieval Europe to scare birds away from crops by clapping together large wooden sticks. After the Great Plague adults took the job, guarding their crops by hiding in straw-huts in a much similar fashion to the Native Americans. Much later when farms grew considerably larger this was the advent of the earliest effigies, who could stand guard a field without using man-power.

Arnaud de Vallois 2010

Known as perhaps the very first field 'gods' or guards is the Japanese "kakashi", representations of the Japanese deity Kuebiko (the Shinto kami/ god of knowledge and agriculture,) who is unable to walk yet holds all the wisdom of the world. The kakashi, very similar to ancient Greece's wooden Priapus, were crafted with old rags, bells and sticks. They would subsequently be mounted on poles then set on fire, the flames and the smell would keep birds and small animals away. The word kakashi literally translates to "something stinky". Some schools of thought believe that Japanese farmers would utilize the kakashi by attaching spoiled meats and vegetables, and this anthropologically might be the birth of the the image of a scarecrow with a pumpkin-head. There are many names for the scarecrow around the world: To the Scottish he is Tattie Bogle, in Sommerset, England he is known as Mommet. In Berkshire, Isle of Wight he called Hodmedod which translates to "with hat and stick". In Bengali it is kaktadua, pugalo to Russia and straska to the Czech's.

Etching by Jim Yarbrough

Some occult thought tie the scarecrow to deeper historic symbolism. The scarecrow's soul purpose is to frighten and it is nearly impossible to look upon the figure without noticing the cross. The cross is synonymous with Jesus Christ and was used by the likes of Vlad the Impaler who had a propensity for impaling and displaying his enemies to ward off others. Subsequently the scarecrow is also seen as a warning and a symbol for "no trespassing".

D.C. Comics 

Straw-men and Scarecrows are seen throughout classic and modern mythology.  The Scarecrow also known as Jonathan Crane in D.C. Comics is one of Batman's most powerful and popular enemies.

Turnip-Head is a cursed Scarecrow who appears in both the film and the novel titled: Howl's Moving Castle, in the novel he is just known as the Scarecrow. He is definitely an homage to kakashi. He is fashioned upon two cross-bound poles and has a withering turnip for a head. In the film Turnip-Head is revealed to be a prince who suffered an enchantment but is restored by the main character Sophie when his heart is placed back within his chest. This is not unlike the most famous Scarecrow from Oz.  

Howl's Moving Castle, Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures 2004

It would be impossible to contemplate scarecrows and not draw your thoughts to Ray Bolger in the 1939 Classic film The Wizard of Oz. This depiction of the Scarecrow balances out the darker history that the figure once represented. The Scarecrow, along with the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion are benevolent staples among the pages of fairy tales and children's minds.

Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, MGM Pictures 1939

The irony behind the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz rests with it's creator L. Frank Baum, who once stated that he had reoccurring nightmares as a child, in which he was being chased by a scarecrow. The development of the figure in his story was established to help him rearrange his fear and he unintentionally did this same for the rest of the world.

John R. Neill 1929

L. Frank Baum wrote into his second Oz novel titled: The Marvelous Land of Oz a character named Jack Pumpkinhead. Jack Pumpkinhead is a play on early European scarecrows who were known as Jack-of-straw. Jack is closer to a traditional scarecrow as he is crafted with wooden sticks and a large Jack-O-Lantern for a head. He was designed by a boy named Tip as a prank on the old witch Mombie. Jack Pumpkinhead becomes quite close to the Scarecrow and eventually a highly regarded citizen in the land of Oz.

Jack Pumpkinhead as seen in Disney's Return to Oz 1985

Jack Pumpkinhead is surely the inspiration for Tim Burton's Jack in the 1993 film: The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Touchstone Pictures 1993

Burton's Jack is the Pumpkin King and the leader of Halloween Town. Jack, in a way, represents the strong evolution of the scarecrow and and his perpetual ties to autumn and Halloween.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Touchstone Pictures 1993 

Source Material:

• An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Katherine Briggs, Pantheon Books, New York, N. Y. 1976
• The Annotated Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 2000
• The Marvelous Land of Oz, L. Frank Baum, Dover Publications Inc. New York, N.Y. 1969
• wikipedia.com
• dicitonary.reference.com
• howlscastle.wikia.com
• paganwiccan.about.com
• pumpkinrot.com
• scarecrowland.co.uk/history
• modernfarmer.com

The King of Beasts

Francis Barlow, Aesop's Fables 1687

Animals and beasts of various form dance within the pages of folklore and mythology, they step in when heroes are in need, providing aid and companionship. In tales of adventure and discovery it is not uncommon for animal creatures to have a certain role among men. As men have their leaders and Kings, animals have the Lion and he is called the King of Beasts.

Una and the Lion, Briton Riviére 1880

The symbol of the lion appears in nearly every culture, spanning almost every continent. He stands guard protecting temples in Ancient China. He establishes the body structure for the sphinx in Ancient Egypt. The Babylonian goddess Ishtar drove a chariot pulled by seven lions.

Hercules Fight with the Nemean Lion, Pieter Paul Rubens

One of the greatest Greek myths involves a creature called the Nemean Lion. It was a dark creature who boasted powerful golden fur which was impenetrable to human weapons. Nemean comes from Nemea an ancient site in Greece that the beast was said to have terrorized. He was defeated by Hercules son of Zeus with his bare hands. It was there after than Hercules was recruited to destroy the Lernaean Hydra (,an ancient water serpent who had many heads. Each time one was taken it would be replaced by two). The Nemean Lion is represented by our very own constellation Leo, and one of the key points of the Zodiac.

Leo with leo Minor, Urania's Mirror Cards 1825

Aesop, perhaps one of the the most famous Greek storytellers born in 620 BCE, wrote many morality tales that elevated the lion's position as the King of Beasts. Among the most famous were The Lion's Share and The Lion and the Mouse.  The Lion's Share is a cautionary tale that expresses that mighty relationships are seldom trustworthy. In this short tale a goat, a cow and a sheep go hunting together with a lion who deceives them upon catching prey and dividing the prize. "I take the first portion because of my title, since I am addressed as king; the second portion you will assign to me, since I’m your partner; then because I am the stronger, the third will follow me; and an accident will happen to anyone who touches the fourth". ---Aesop's Fables

Aunt Louisa's Oft Told Tales, New York 1870's

In the Lion and the Mouse, perhaps the most beloved of Aesop's tales, a lion discovers a tiny mouse in his den, seizes and threatens him. The mouse asks for forgiveness and expresses that such a creature as he would be considered unworthy prey for a lion. The lion then sets the mouse free. Later the lion is caught up within a hunters net. Hearing the great beast roar the mouse returns and remembering the lion's compassion he gnaws through the ropes to help set him free. The moral of the story is that mercy, compassion and assistance can come from the most unexpected, and no one is so small that they cannot help remedy another. 

Queen of the Field Mice, W. W. Denslow 1900

This tale surely inspired L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy and her companions are traveling to the Emerald City to seek the famous Wizard they decide to take a shortcut through a beautiful scarlet meadow of poppies. Unaware of the deadly poison within the flowers Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and Toto fall into a deep slumber. The Tin Man and the Scarecrow, because they are not flesh and blood, remain unharmed. Dorothy and Toto were small enough to be carried to safety but the Lion, described as being large as a horse, was much to big. The companions are eventually aided by a small mouse who reveals that she is Queen of the field mice. The mice who live in a nearby underground kingdom decide to help. The queen summons her mice to bring ropes while the Tin Man agrees to build a cart that the Lion could be hoisted upon. The Lion is then saved when the mice pull him to safety.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, W.W. Denslow 1900

Early Slavic chroniclers told tales of animals in a time before man and like the Greek gave origin to the design of beasts. One of the most famous tales sees a great lion who was called the Lion Tsar in a world where animals spoke like men. He is known for bestowing tails to all creatures in likeness of his own. 'According to the ancient tales, this was the way of life not only in human society but also in the realm of the animals. The beasts and birds had their hierarchies and social classes, their laws and customs, their manners and mores, all of which disappeared from the face of the earth when the new two-legged species established its hegemony. But before that conquest was complete, the lion presided as the king of the beasts. Slavic chroniclers said that a great lion ruled as Tsar of Russia in the days before humans. His vassals and courtiers were lesser creatures that bowed low before his wise brow, his awe-inspiring voice and his bone-cracking jaws. From the lattice-roofed throne room of his elegantly furnished summer residence to the tapestry-clad chambers of his Winter Palace, the lion lived in splendor worthy of his magnificence.' ---The Book of Beginnings, Time-Life Books 1986 

Dictionary Art Print, Pinterest

Aesop's Greek fables of the lion were inspired by a book titled: Physiologus, a book dating back to the 2nd Century AD. This book is notably one of the first to give moral character to animals, fantastic beasts and even plant-life. It is the predecessor of all bestiaries (a book detailing various creatures). In it animals are described anecdotally, symbolically and morally. An allegorical story in the Physiologus tells of cubs who were born dead and brought back to life by the lion's breath. This is among the first books to detail the mighty Phoenix rising from it's own ashes, and the Unicorn who can only lay upon the lap of a true Virgin. Some of the most well regarded bestiaries come from Medieval Europe, and there the lion journeys into further allegory but most significantly to the sun and seasons. 

Panther, Bern Physiologus, 9th Century 

'In older times, said scholars, forests rang with battles between the Lion and the Unicorn. They fought for dominion over the wilderness, and the outcome was believed to follow a seasonal pattern. In the spring, the unicorn's power was greater, but as summer approached, the lion won suzerainty. Then the unicorn retreated, biding it's time until the next spring, when warm breezes renewed it's strength and called it forth to reclaim the land.' ---Magical Beasts, Time-Life Books 1986    

Stardust, Charles Vess 1999

The Christian Bible documents the presence of lions most notably in The Book of Daniel (Chapter 6). In this book we learn about Daniel, who is cast into a den of lions and miraculously survives. A lesser known tale accounts of Samson (of Samson and Delilah), who like Hercules of Greek legend, kills a lion with his bare hands.  The Lion remains the symbol of the Kingdom of Judah where the capital Jerusalem is, it is emblazoned upon their flag as well as their coat of arms. "Judah is a lion's whelp; On prey, my son have you grown. He crouches, lies down like a lion, like the king of beasts—who dare rouse him?" (Genesis 49:9) 

Daniel in the Lion's Den, Henry Ossawa Tanner 1915

While medieval bestiaries document a symbiotic relationship between the lion and the unicorn, it can be argued that they allegorically represent higher spiritual ground, i.e God. C. S. Lewis an english scholar in mythology took these many thoughts and developed them into his masterpiece The Chronicles of Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven books that detail many adventures including the birth and destruction of the mystical land Narnia. Narnia is inhabited by men,  many mystical creatures of old and animals that can talk. Aslan, as he is called is the master spirit of the realm and he is represented as a lion, he is called King of Beasts, son of the Emperor-Over-The-Sea. He is the supreme authority both spiritually and at times physically over the land. Like the Lion described in the Greek Physiologus, he processes the power to breath life into the earth as well as it's inhabitants. He is arguably a representation of Jesus Christ in an alternate reality as he, at one of the most significant moments in the saga is resurrected after death. Aslan is actually the Turkish and Mongolian word for Lion. 

Aslan, Pauline Baynes 1950

“He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.” 
― C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Arthur A. Levine Books 1997

In Arthurian legend and folklore the lion is seen symbolistically as virtue and is represented in various tales. Three Lions are seen on the English Coat of Arms, originally a symbol for Richard the Lionheart. In an early variant on Beauty & the Beast the beast is represented as a lion, told by the Brothers Grimm in a tale titled: Lily and the Lion. In J. K. Rowling's beloved Harry Potter Series the lion is the symbol for the House of Gryffindor, which is the house of bravery. The House of Lannister in George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice is represented by a golden lion on crimson and while traditionally this is honorable it can be disputed that this is also representative of pride and lust for power. The Lion as myth and legend is seen in nearly every culture outside of libraries, outside of temples, a symbol of power, a symbol of strength and spirit. As folklore grows and evolves the legend of the lion is sure to travel with as he is anciently and allegorically the King of Beasts.  

Löwe, Albrecht Dürer 1494

Source Material:

• The Book of Beginnings, The Enchanted World Series, 1986
• Magical Beasts, The Enchanted Word Series, 1986 
• The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis, Macmillan Publishing Co. 1950's
• The Annotated Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 2000
• Dictionary.com
• Wickipedia.com
• Oz.wikia.com
• Goodreads.com