Bear
The bear denotes massive ambivalent strength, at once violent and noble, revered as the fierce nursing mother and fixed in the heavens about the pole.
Our paraphrase of what the sources say it carries.
At a glance
- Type
- Image
- Group
- Animal World / Wild Animals
- Borne by
- 3 figures (1 is this, 2 carry it)
- Traditions
- Chinese mythology (1)European folklore (general) (1)Finnish folklore (1)
- Same group
- BullCoyoteElephantHorseRabbit/Hare and 1 more
Figures that bear it
A model judged each figure against its own description, one term at a time. Is: the figure is a kind of this thing. Bears: it carries the thing or is marked by it. What a figure does is filed under motifs and powers. Open "why" for the sentence the judgement rests on.
- Otso is Finnish folklore
why
Otso is a spirit bear in Finnish folklore, appearing as a powerful and sacred creature.
- Luduan bears Chinese mythology
why
In Chinese mythology, the Luduan captivates with a lion's head, a rhino's horn, a dragon's body, bear paws, fish scales, and an ox's tail.
- Parandrus bears European folklore (general)
why
The Parandrus is a beast of the medieval bestiaries, ox-sized with a stag's antlers and a bear's shaggy coat, which escapes hunters by taking on the colour of whatever it stands among.