The Tarasque was a dragon of French origin said to dwell in Provence. A fearsome creature, it supposedly had the head and jaws of a lion, the body of a turtle, six bear-like legs and a serpent's tail. The Tarasca, a variant of the Tarasque, is found in the folklore of Spain, Portugal, and Latin American countries.[1]
Legend says that the Tarasque terrorized the locals of Nerluc, a town in Provence. The king of Nerluc tried attacking the beast with knights and catapults, but to no avail. However, a priestess named Saint Martha single-handedly defeated the creature, soothing it with hymns and prayers, taming it. She then led it back to Nerluc, where it was killed by the frightened villagers. Martha preached to the people afterwards, converting most of them to Christianity, and the villagers, ashamed of what they had done to the tamed dragon, renamed their town as Tarascon in memory of the event. To this day, the Tarasque remains the town's coat of arms.
The Tarasque and the tradition surrounding it is recognized as a major piece of European folk legend, with the UNESCO marking the folktale as "part of the oral and immaterial inheritance of humanity".[2]
Etymology[]
Contrary to what the legend attests, the Tarasque's name is likely based off Tarascon itself rather then the other way around, although the exact etymological origin is unknown. The town's name may have been based off Tauriscus, a Gaulish tyrant thought to be slain by Hercules.[3]
Background[]
The oldest reference to the Tarasque is in the "Vita S. Marthae" of the Pseudo-Marcella, dating back to somewhere between 1187 and 1220. The accounts of Vincent of Beauvis and Jacobus Voragine (the latter of which wrote the Golden Legend) were based off a prototype of the Pseudo-Marcella and had gradually brought Saint Martha into 13th century martyrologies.[3] Several seals of the city of Tarascon from 1211, 1217, and 1249 feature the Tarasque, although in a form distinct from later depictions. Further, several coins of King René (1434-80) also show the Tarasque, with these depictions bearing more similarity to the modern depiction.[4]
The tale of the Tarasque had been found useful in further increasing the prevalence of the cult of Saint Martha in the region and the establishing of the town of Tarascon's cultural, political, and religious identity. The origin of the legend itself is still up for debate, heavily varying suggestions from "vanquished pagan religons to displaced captive crocodiles" being thought of yet with no clear answer.[3] That being said, the tale's precise focus on its region and the Tarasque's appearance suggests the Tarasque itself predates the legend, the legend having features of both regional folklore and hagiographic tales.[5] In general, French scholars ascribe a Celtic origin to the Tarasque.[1]
Description[]
A drawing of the Tarasque in Pierre Sala's Antiquités de Lyon, c. 16th century
In addition to the mentioned description, the Pseudo-Marcella asserts that the Tarasque is the offspring of the sea serpent Leviathan from the Bible and the onachus or bonnacon, a creature that utilizes burning excrement as a weapon. It further describes the Tarasque as exceptionally powerful for a dragon from folklore, more then capable of rivalling over a dozen lions or bears. The Pseudo-Rabanus adds that, on top of being a huge dragon with hooked fangs, it had a poisonous breath of which the slightest infection could be lethal and "sulfurous sparks" leaking from it's eyes, as well as having a terrifying whistle and roar and that it lived alongside other serpents.[3]
Symbolism[]
The Tarasque's asserted parents, the Leviathan and the bonnacon may symbolize different aspects of the Tarasque. On the one hand, the Leviathan represents cosmic evil, as a being that only the Hebrew God can slay as he asserts in the Book of Job. On the other, the bonnacon represents "the repellent filthiness of sin", the bodily function of excretion often being shown to be associated with sin and bestiality in medieval religious literature.[5]
Festivities[]
Drawing of a Tarasque effigy with holders, 1846
As early as 1461 and annually until the French Revolution, effigies of the Tarasque could be found paraded around at religious and seasonal festivals in Tarascon. These effigies would be accompanied and escorted by a group of young men known as Tarascaries. Two notable festivals where said effigies would appear were Whit Monday and St. Martha's Day (29 July). On the former, the Tarasque effigy would be aggressive with onlookers, even charging into them which excited the crowds. The Tasrascaries would bring whips to hold back the crowd in case of rowdiness. On Saint Martha's day, the Tarasque effigy is led on a ribbon by a little girl, acting out signs of aggression only to be subdued by sprinkles of holy water. In modern times, a Tarasque effigy can be found on the last Sunday of June, with an annual festival being held that celebrates the history and legends of Tarascon.[2]
Tarasca[]
Tarasca in Valencia, Spain, 2007
The Tarasca (Spanish for Tarasque) is a variant of the Tarasque that originated in Spain, first being mentioned in texts in 1282. Festivities surrounding the creature and effigies of it are common in Spain. A notable addition to these effigies in comparison to its French counterpart are the inclusion of female temptress figures (or figures that otherwise represent the feminine). This conflates the feminine with the theme of aggressiveness and dread associated with the Tarasca dragon, overall having a misogynistic connotation.[1]
Comparative Mythology[]
In the telling of the French myth recorded in the Golden Legend, Saint Martha resurrects a dead boy after the townsfolk had slain the Tarasque of which she tamed. This part of the story has similarities with other hagiographical stories such as those of Saint Andrew, Saint Thomas, Saint Samson, Saint Phillip and Saint Ammon, all of which involve the restoration of a youth as well as a conflict with a dragon.[6]
In relation to the celebration of the Tarasque with effegies, the best English parallel would be the use of an effigy of the dragon Snap in midsummer civic parades in Norwich.[2]
Trivia[]
- The Tarasque and Tarascon were inspiration for the naming of the predatory dinosaur Tarascosaurus, a member of the abelisaur family and a close relative to Carnotaurus.
In Popular Culture[]
- The Tarrasque in Dungeons & Dragons, a huge reptilian creature of immense power, is based off the Tarasque.
- In SCP Foundation, the Tarasque was the French name for the cosmic entity SCP-682, who is thought to have been the basis of a host of myths.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 David D. Gilmore (September 2008) "Tarasca": Ritual Monster of Spain Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Vol. 152 No. 3 pp.363-382 https://www.jstor.org/stable/40541592
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jacqueline Simpson Tarasque The Folklore Society
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Tarasque A Book of Creatures
- ↑ Richard G. Salomon (1962) Aftermath to Opicinus de Canistris Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Volume 25 No.1/2 pp.137-146 https://www.jstor.org/stable/750550
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Patricia Brown (1998) The role and symbolism of the dragon in vernacular saint's legends 1200-1500 University of Birmingham pp.101-105
- ↑ Dainel Ogden (2019) The Function of Dragon Episodes in Early Hagiography in Ingo Schaff Animal Kingdom of Heaven: Anthrozoological Aspects in the Late Antique World de Gruyter
External Links[]
- Tarasque on Wikipedia