for in the species which hibernate, the bear seems to die every winter and is reborn in the springtime. In Switzerland and central Europe, the bear is a seasonal herald of the coming of spring. The month of February, when the bear reappears from hibernation is colloquially called ‘the Bear’s Fart’, when bears pass wind after their long sleep. The most northerly bears give birth while in a state of semi-hibernation, which informed the classical belief that bear cubs were born without form and had to be licked into shape by their mothers.
Throughout the world, bears are commonly seen as symbols of creation. In Hindu star lore, the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear) was regarded as the source of all universal energy and the beginner of the seasons. They called the constellation the Seven Bears or Rishis (Wise Men.) The symbol for the Great Bear is the clockwise swastika, symbol of good luck and of the four revolving seasons. The Great Bear revolves around the Pole Star so that people can always ‘find their bearings’. In Greek myth, Callisto, the bear goddess, is chased by her own son, Arcas, who failed to recognize her; to prevent matricide, Zeus elevated mother and son respectively as the Great and Little Bear constellations.
Among the Ostyaks of western Siberia, the myth is told that bears originated in heaven. One day when Father Bear went out to hunt, Little Bear broke the lock of their house and entered the courtyard of heaven. His paw sank through the floor and through the hole he observed people. When his father returned, he begged to be allowed to visit the world below. He was lowered on a golden cradle with silver chains into the honey-blossom that grew below, and was instructed to leave good people alone but to oppress the evildoers. At the time of the bear ceremony, when he is sent home again, Little Bear filled his knapsack with silver as a present for his father who then raised him up again.
A ceremony based on this story is widely performed over the circumpolar regions of Asia. The most famous example of this was found among the hunter-gatherer Ainu people of Hokkaido and Sakhalin of Japan, where the bear is central to one of their most important rites. They regarded the bear as a divine animal. Up until 1930, they practiced the Iyomande or ‘sending home’ ceremony. Bear cubs were raised for several winters as adopted god-children who would speak for the people to the mountain bear spirit. They were lovingly fed and tended until their ritual sacrifice when they were slain or ‘sent home’, a ritual where they were feasted and sent back with gifts to the divine bear parents.
For the Inuit, the bear is both ancestor and way-shower in the hunt. They imitate the polar bear’s posture when they stalk the seal, going against the wind, crouching below the horizon and moving only when the prey move away. For the ancient Chinese, the bear was one of the creatures who could cast out evil. Fian-Sian-Che was the bear who was represented the leader of the ‘Dance of the Twelve Animals’ in the New Year celebration called the Ta-No. Boy dancers attired as different animals whirled about Fian-Sian-Che after hurling menacing gestures at the forces of evil. Then all twelve, led by the bear-spirit, ran through the countryside to take their healing powers to cast out evil.
For the native peoples of North America, the bear is a central teacher.
Respect for the bear at the point of death is shown across the world. The Koyukon of Alaska never pull a bear out of its den by ropes or chains and they keep dogs away from him. They slit his eyes so that he cannot witness his own death. It is widely believed among all bear hunters that if they do not observe this ancestral respect for grandfather bear, as he is invariably called, he will not show himself again.
Among the Haida of British Columbia, they tell how a young woman was taken into the bear’s den and became a Bear Wife. She grew a pelt and bore twin children who were half human, half bear. But her brothers had been searching for her all this time; when they discovered the den, the Bear Husband knew he must die but he taught her and his sons the songs that hunters must use over his dead body to ensure good fortune. The Bear Sons became great hunters once they had removed their bear coats. They showed their kinsmen where bear dens were to be found and taught them the sacred songs before returning to live among their own people once again.
Bear is the supreme physician and herbalist, because he digs in the woods for herbs and plants and because he has the ability to heal his own wounds, as many hunters who have wounded bears have testified. A Hupa Indian story tells how Bear discovered medicine for pregnant women.
Bear is also the giver of tools. A Siberian story relates how Bear tried to cross a river. As the waters engulfed him from foot to head, he said, ‘My heels shall be whetstones, my knees grinders, my shoulder-blades palettes for grinding out colours, my blood will give the colour red and my excrement will be the colour black.’ This miraculously recalls the first cave-painters who ground pigment upon bears’ scapulars to create the very first art.
Bear fell pregnant and found herself growing too big to walk. She wondered whether she would be the same if she visited the Indian world. As she had that thought, a voice cried, ‘Put me in your mouth. You are in this condition for the sake the Indians.’ She saw a redwood sorrel growing and put it in her mouth, thinking that this medicine would also help the Indian. She gave it to the Indian nations and every time it is used in childbirth, they are able to talk to her through it.
As bears grew more secretive and less easy to see, bear stories remained popular. From the Norwegian folk story East of the Sun, West of the Moon in which a white bear marries a young woman, to the armoured bears of Philip Pullman’s modern masterpiece, His Dark Materials, the bear fulfils its mysterious guardianship over our world. Today the bear is one of the most protective toys of children. The teddy bear which is given to young children derives from the beginning of the 20th century when President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear cub while on a hunt in 1902. From that time onwards, stuffed toy bears were manufactured. Literary bears, such as Winnie the Pooh, Paddington and the bears of the Goldilocks story continue to enchant us, hinting of a deeper power and intelligence that we must respect.
BEAST OF GEVAUDIN
During 1764–7, the Beast of Gevaudin terrorized parts of south-eastern France. A wolf-like beast, it drove off cattle and preyed upon people, tearing out their entrails. It was said to have red fur and a black-coloured back. A Paris newspaper speculated that it might be a cross between a wolf and a hyena. Despite having been shot at, it continued its predations. King Louis XV sent out soldiers to kill the beast but even after they had thought the beast dead, it killed again. In June 1767, the beast was finally killed by Jean Chastel; he fired two silver bullets into it, believing it to be a vampire. The corpse of the beast was taken to Paris. A film was made of this story, Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).
BEAST OF LEETIR DALLAN
This ancient Irish monster had the head of a man and the body of a vast creature, which swelled up like a smith’s bellows. It was the son of a priest’s daughter who was seduced by an Each Uisge.
BEAVER
In North American Algonquian legend, Beaver was one of four sacred animals that were dispatched to bring back a single granule of soil with which Manabusch, the Great Hare, could recreate the world after the flood caused by the Anamagqkiu which destroyed the world. Beaver died trying, along with Otter. Mink failed in the attempt but Muskrat found a grain of sand so that Manabusch could work his magic.
In European lore, the beaver was the byword for industry – ‘to be as busy as a beaver’. Beavers had the reputation for being the source of a substance that cured all diseases; this was held in their testicles which it would bite off if pursued and cornered, so as to deprive the hunter of his prize. If it escaped and was hunted once again,
