HORNED DRAGONS OF THE AMERICAS

SOME FOLKS SAY that the Native American cultures had little contact with each other across the great distances of the New World. Yet many cultures of the native peoples of the Americas had legends and stories of horned dragons or similarly described beasts. In these disparate cultures, the creatures are described with remarkable similarity; a long, serpentine body of immense length, a large head with huge jaws, and horns (usually two) atop its head. In Mexico, its name was Hoga. In parts of South America, the natives called the creature Andura. Particularly in the region that is present-day Canada, the creature was considered more or less benign if given a wide berth, although some malevolence is recounted in the folktales. The traditions of the Shawnee and the Sauk tribes caution that young women are of particular interest to these creatures, and maidens should be especially circumspect in avoiding contact with them.

Some stories tell of humans making solemn pacts with these dragons to wield the magical powers that the creatures’ blood contained. In each instance, the would-be magician gets some unpleasant come-uppances. In the folklore of the Huron people, one man named Tijaiha sacrifices his mother-in-law to the great beast to ask the beast for the power to kill his enemies. But before you decide that is a good plan, here's the rest of the story - Tijaiha is forced to flee and his own tribe ends up killing him. In another legend, the sorcerer cooked and ate one of these horned dragons, only to turn into a water serpent himself and to this day is the guardian of the Missouri River.

The Pueblo, Hope and Zuni tribes of the region now called the Southwest United States revered these dragons and painted them on pottery and included their images in many important ceremonies.

However, some of these horned dragons were dangerous to humans. In Southern Ontario, the native people avoided a cavern close to the shore of Lake Ontario, where legend told that a mighty horned dragon swallowed the great Iroquois hero Gun-No-Da-Ya. In Iroquois legends, the storms on the Great Lakes were the result of the dragon’s anger.

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