Appreciate a Dragon Day is January 16, 2010. Dragons are those lovable mythical creatures that have been around for centuries and and delighted young and old throughout the world. Appreciate a Dragon day was founded by Donia K.aul, the author of DragonSpell series of books which feature the fantasy series and a world of dragons. Dragons are found in European, Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern and Greek Culture. The European dragon has bat-type wings growing from its back. Dragons have been depicted with no front legs, with two or four or even millions of legs depending on the mythological source. Some have very large eyes and are very scaly or have fins.
Dragons are often held to have major spiritual and magical significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In many Asian cultures dragons were, and in some cultures still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe. Dragons are also believed to be wise and in some cases have the power of human speech.
Some of the more famous dragons are:
- Draco in Dragonheart and Drake and Griffin in Dragonheart II: A New Beginning
- Bio Dragon, a genetically engineered, 1,000 year old dragon from the 2003 science fiction movie Dragon
- Fighter The female dragon called Dragon in DreamWorks’ Shrek and its sequels
- Elliot in Disney’s Pete’s Dragon and The Search for Mickey Mouse
- Genie temporarily turns himself into a dragon in the movie AladdinMaleficent in dragon form in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty
- Mushu in Disney’s Mulan
- Norbert in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Tolkien, J.R.R., Farmer Giles of Ham: Chrysophylax Dives.
Tolkien, J.R.R., world of Middle-earth:
Ancalagon the Black (The Silmarillion)
Glaurung, the first of the dragons in Middle-earth
Scatha
Smaug (The Hobbit) - Norbert, Hagrid’s baby dragon, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Hungarian Horntail, Welsh Green, Swedish Short-snout, and Chinese Fireball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- The gigantic, almost blind dragon that guards some of the deepest vaults of Gringotts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Albi, from the Flight of the Conchords song “Albi the Racist Dragon”
- Grundore the Plighter, the fabeled beast from the song “Love is but a Rainbow”
- Please Don’t Stop The Music song by Rihanna
- “Puff, the Magic Dragon”, best known from the hit single by Peter, Paul and Mary
- Big Snore, the sleepy purple title dragon from Don’t Wake the Dragon!, a mid-1980s children’s board game
There are also many many dragons in video games, role playing games, and card deck games.
Pick your dragon, whether it be in literature, a movie, a game or a crystal statue from which you make up your own story and sit back and enjoy the magic of the dragon on this “Appreciate a Dragon Day.”
