El fénix, el basilisco y el dragón: trascendencia de la animalia fabulosa y su simbolismo en los libros de emblemas

RESUMEN: Entre los materiales que los Libros de Emblemas utilizaron para llevar a cabo el propósito de instruir a sus receptores, están los discursos sobre animales fabulosos que los autores recopilaron y adaptaron de diversas fuentes literarias pertenecientes a la Antigüedad clásica y a la Edad Media. Por esta razón la emblemática también es el producto de la asimilación del conocimiento anterior que se tiene sobre animales reales o no. En este tenor, el objetivo de este artículo es comprobar, a través de ejemplos que provienen de la animalia fabulosa, que las representaciones emblemáticas de estos libros asimilan la información proveniente de los antiguos doctos para otorgarles renovada continuidad en cuanto a la función y simbología de las descripciones zoológicas. Para lo anterior, recurriré al análisis del ave fénix, el basilisco y el dragón en el contexto antes mencionado. ABSTRACT: Among the materials that the Emblem Books used to carry out the purpose of instructing their recipients are the discourses on fabulous animals that the authors compiled and adapted from various literary sources belonging to classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. For this reason, emblematic is also the product of the assimilation of previous knowledge about real or not real animals. In this sense, the aim of this article is to prove that the emblematic representations of these books assimilate the information coming from the ancient scholars to give them renewed continuity in terms of the function and symbolism of zoological descriptions. For the above, I will resort to the analysis of the phoenix, the basilisk and the dragon in the aforementioned context.

Chinese Culture in the Cirebon Sultanate: Symbolic and Philosophical Meanings

This paper aims to explore the symbolic and philosophical meaning of the elements of Chinese culture in the Kasepuhan Palace, Cirebon. In this palace, there are many Chinese cultural ornaments that adorn this historical site. One of them is the Siti Inggil building, where there are walls pasted with Chinese ceramics. The primary data of this paper were obtained from the field by means of observation, documentation, and direct interviews. Data analysis used descriptive qualitative and semiotic methods with archaeological, anthropological, and socio-historical approaches. This article confirms that the Chinese ornaments in the Cirebon Sultanate prove the process of cultural acculturation between Chinese culture and Cirebon culture. In Chinese tradition, the dragon is a symbol of the Chinese emperor. while the image of the Phoenix bird is a symbol of the female emperor, peace and prosperity, and the image of the fish is a symbol of darkness and luxury.

An Afrasian Entanglement

The establishment of the Phoenix Settlement and the Gandhi Development Trust (GDT) in South Africa was an experiment in self-sufficient communal living and the promotion of the values and principles of Mahatma Gandhi and South Africa’s democratic Constitution, respectively. While both entities are the result of Gandhi’s South African connection, they serve to embody, through the Mahatma, an Afrasian Entanglement. Gandhi’s time in South Africa made a remarkable impact on him and the country, transforming his political and social positions and influencing its struggle for freedom. In post-apartheid South Africa, the shared mission of both organisations is to advance a culture of nonviolence, peace and social responsibility through a range of transformative programmes. This article details Gandhi’s South African journey, his evolving ideas of passive resistance and social reconstruction there, and the resultant legacy programmes that resonate with the spirit of Ubuntu and the South African Constitution to reinforce democracy.