Finding the Moroccan Dragon
This is a venture that vexed me for nigh a month. I kept trying to dig lore specific to Morocco. I refused to accept that a country did not have some depiction of a dragon especially when they have a word for it. I tried every form of "Moroccan dragon" into Google search and even tattoos and it would come back with nothing but Chinese dragons. Even the Arabic henna designs would have Chinese dragons complete with the Chinese kanji. I'm not an idiot, if I'm looking up Arabic henna designs and want a dragon I'm not going to write a Chinese kanji thinking it's Arabic >.>
I digressed there for a second, back on topic. I got to looking at the tattoo art and I noticed that there was heavy Indian influence. I also noticed the textile designs and art seemed to line up more with Persian than Egyptian. Egypt is closer so for a second it did not make sense. I started to remember my Comparative Mythology reading and remembered there were common lineages with Vedic and Arab cultures. I dug into the history of Morocco and found out the Phoenicians were the first culture found on record in that region. The Phoenicians were apart of what became the Persian Empire, which includes modern day Iran. Indo-Iranian religion was preceded by Zoroastrianism. There is a prominent dragon in Zoroastrianism known as Aži Dahāka, who also appears in Iranian lore and tapestries.
∴ Aži Dahāka is the dragon who could be considered the dragon of Morocco, barring any lesser regional ones I could not find via the internet and most of the locals seem to not know. To make a painting or tattoo of a Moroccan dragon I can take the base of the Persian images of Aži Dahāka and give them a Moroccan flare.
BAM! I felt a jolt of energy as everything slammed into place. I found him! I just love it when information rolls over for me like a submissive partner.
I digressed there for a second, back on topic. I got to looking at the tattoo art and I noticed that there was heavy Indian influence. I also noticed the textile designs and art seemed to line up more with Persian than Egyptian. Egypt is closer so for a second it did not make sense. I started to remember my Comparative Mythology reading and remembered there were common lineages with Vedic and Arab cultures. I dug into the history of Morocco and found out the Phoenicians were the first culture found on record in that region. The Phoenicians were apart of what became the Persian Empire, which includes modern day Iran. Indo-Iranian religion was preceded by Zoroastrianism. There is a prominent dragon in Zoroastrianism known as Aži Dahāka, who also appears in Iranian lore and tapestries.
∴ Aži Dahāka is the dragon who could be considered the dragon of Morocco, barring any lesser regional ones I could not find via the internet and most of the locals seem to not know. To make a painting or tattoo of a Moroccan dragon I can take the base of the Persian images of Aži Dahāka and give them a Moroccan flare.
BAM! I felt a jolt of energy as everything slammed into place. I found him! I just love it when information rolls over for me like a submissive partner.
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