Can dragons really help us? Tomorrow two billion people will celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Some believe that the legendary animal can teach us something about the future.
World's largest annual human migration starts
Can dragons really help us? Tomorrow two billion people will celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Some believe that the legendary animal can teach us something about the future.
Enter the dragon
At midnight tonight, the skies above China will explode with over a billion fireworks.1 The Year of the Dragon will begin.
The Lunar New Year2 is the world's biggest festival. It lasts fifteen days. Over two billion people celebrate it, around a quarter of the entire world.3
China will explode in celebration. Cities will be covered in red decorations to bring good fortune. Dragons will dance in the streets.4
It is a time for community. Families will gather to eat spring rolls, dumplings and rice cakes. Prayers will be offered to ancestors. People will give their friends, relatives and employees red envelopes stuffed with money.
The New Year even sparks the world's biggest migrationThe movement of people or animals over a long distance. . In China alone, an estimated 200 million people travel long distances to meet their families.
Years on the Chinese calendar are named after the twelve zodiacThe term derives from a Greek word for a sculpture of an animal. animals.5 The dragon is the greatest of these creatures. People born during dragon years are thought to embodyTo personify or give a visible form to an idea or feeling. honour, leadership and success.
Chinese dragons are god-like beings. They resemble snakes, fish and turtles. Some protect China's great rivers and lakes. They can control the weather, leading to both fertile fields and natural disasters. Others signify power and authority.
Dragons are mythical creatures. Few believe they actually exist. But many think they have a symbolic power. AstrologerSomebody who studies the movements of the moon, sun and stars in the belief that this has influence on people's lives. Charlotte Frejya-Richwoods, for instance, believes that the Year of the Dragon will "see many changes to leadership within countries".
Sceptics claim that these predictions are just myths. This year will see a record two billion people voting in 50 elections, a world record. You do not need a dragon to guess that some governments will change.
Can dragons really help us?
Yes: Human society is made of stories. They give us shared understanding. And dragons star in legends all over the world, from Japan to Norway. Of course they can teach us.
No: Dragons have been with us for years: in 1755, French writer Denis Diderot wrote: "There are already all too many fabulous stories of dragons". If they could help us they would have done so by now.
Or... Dragons may not be able to help us directly. But that they hold such a large place in our imagination suggests that they must have a big role. We might not have found it yet.
Keywords
Migration - The movement of people or animals over a long distance.
Zodiac - The term derives from a Greek word for a sculpture of an animal.
Embody - To personify or give a visible form to an idea or feeling.
Astrologer - Somebody who studies the movements of the moon, sun and stars in the belief that this has influence on people's lives.
World’s largest annual human migration starts
Glossary
Migration - The movement of people or animals over a long distance.
Zodiac - The term derives from a Greek word for a sculpture of an animal.
Embody - To personify or give a visible form to an idea or feeling.
Astrologer - Somebody who studies the movements of the moon, sun and stars in the belief that this has influence on people's lives.