Working with an Idea: Der Lindwurmbrunnen in Klagenfurt

There is a fountain in the market square in Klagenfurt, Austria: der Lindwurmbrunnen in Klagenfurt, the lindworm fountain, consisting of a lindworm, or wingless bipedal dragon, out of whose mouth the water flows. There are links and references to it everywhere on the web. In the images section of google, you an find a picture of a Wurm, of a Lindwurm, of a Brunnen, and of the Lindwurmbrunnen. On German youtube, you can find the Klagenfurt lindworm with a modern-day funny twist to it. It is called "Lindwurm Forever."

If you want to find out about Klagenfurt, you can see it on a map, in pictures, in a panorama shot, lots of times on youtube (a Sunday a.m. bike ride or a student's reminiscences of a year spent studying there). Webcams are available as well.

What would be the benefit in having students take a concept -- a word or phrase or film title or book title from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein -- and creating a wiki about it? Or a webpage? With his or her reflections on it? I think I'll find out in the next months. Here are my reflections on one concept, born from a decade of thought about these dragons:

Thoughts on the Lindwurm and its Brunnen

Water flows from the mouth of the lindworm in Klagenfurt. Located on the market square, it presides over the city from its center point. The lindworm is the snake, the dragon, the bipedal dragon, as it so aptly says in the Wikipedia definition. Such a dragon is one of the traces left over from ancient times, just like St. George and the Dragon, from ancient times when the dragon meant something different from what it does today. I am reminded once again of the fight between the pre-Christian and Christian religions for the hearts of the people. The dragon, the snake, the lindworm have become synonymous with the devil and his demons, with evil and its personification – something to be slain with the sword, just as St. George does. Is that where it all started? With good over evil? Or does it, like other ancient symbols, refer to a time and/or place where the dragon is/was good, or a mixture of good and evil? Does it go back to Adam and Eve, or does it go further back, to the pre-biblical finds of 2500 B.C.E., when a woman and a tree and a snake were carved on various pieces in various places of the present-day Middle East? Does it go back to a time when the dragon guarded the golden apples of the Goddess Hera in Greek mythology? Does it go back to even earlier times – times of the Minoan Snake Goddes, or even earlier? I suspect that the dragon that must be killed is the old religion that must be stamped out, in order that the newer religion may flourish. But that old dragon is still around, in the churches of Europe – yes, St. George can be found there killing his dragon, in the snake under Mary’s feet, in the folktales from the forests and mountains, in the statues at the center of a market square in the center of a town in Austria. … And did it used to be a revered snake? The giver and taker of life? Just as today’s Christians revere their God, the giver and taker of life? A good question. Where to find the answers? And the lindworm’s water that flows from its mouth: a symbol of the waters of life? Or a mere coincidence? I don’t know.

And what about Klagenfurt, Austria and its relationship to the Lindwurm? As I traveled around Italy, especially, I noticed that the dragon was a motif inside and outside of churches. I saw a dragon in Venice near the water's edge, as well as in churches in Genoa, where St. George was on the job. They seem to be most prevalent in the Catholic parts of Europe I've visited -- in the more ancient parts, speaking from a perspective of the spread of new religions. The Catholic Church is older than the Protestant and had to incorporate more of the ancient beliefs, either by accepting them or setting themselves up against them. These dragons are not so visible (if at all?) in the areas of later ideologies, the Protestant/Lutheran areas, and certainly you won't find them (at all?) in the United States, where the Protestants are the dominant force. Klagenfurt is in Austria, a predominantly Catholic country, and it is not far from Italy, the seat of the Catholic Church. So what does this mean? I think the European dragon, i.e. nuances of ancient European religions, is not alive in the U.S. St. George succeeded, although ... new religions have been springing up that embrace (a new interpretation of?) the old ways. ... The saga continues.

Of course, there have been dragons all over the place in folklore and mythology, in all of Europe. Even St. Patrick was killing them. And many of the Greek heroes were slaying dragons. But did they come from a group (Zeus) who were in conflict with another group (represented by Hera)? What is the origin of it all? For certainly serpents were and are symbols of healing.