Or (Gold) = Generosity and elevation of the mind
Gules (Red) = Warrior or martyr; Military strength and magnanimity
Ermine (White with black spots) = Mark of dignity
Invected Line = Earth or land
Chevron = Protection; Builders or others who have accomplished some work of
faithful service
Dragonfly = In history:
- Folknames The European impression of dragonflies
(odonates) has been that they are dangerous and malevolent; they are associated with
snakes and the devil, as shown by many of their colloquial names. There are some
seventy English folk names, ‘Adderbolt’ and ‘Devil’s Darning
Needle’ being two of them. In Yorkshire, small boys still use
‘Hos-stinger’ to indicate a dragonfly and ‘Horse-stinger’ is used in
Australia. The earliest reference to a folk-name, ‘Adderbolt’, is found in
Caxton (1483) and the earliest mention of the word “Dragonfly” is in
Bacon’s Sylvia (1626) “The delicate coloured Dragon Flies”. (I remember my
mother calling them "Snake Doctors" when I was young)
- Folklore. Attitudes towards “Dragonflies” (odonates)
vary enormously from country to country, the Far Eastern perception differing markedly
from that of the European. The folklore of many western countries holds that they
are snakes’ companions. In America, a superstition was that dragonflies were
capable of stitching the mouths, and sometimes the eyes and ears, of lying children,
scolding women and cursing men. Satan is often said to have sent dragonflies into
the world to cause mischief; in Italy and among the Dakota Indians, the insects are known
as witches’ animals. If the witch is the devil’s creature then, by
association, so are dragonflies. This is in sharp contrast to the Orient, where they
were never considered evil.
- Religion. Prior to 1840, it appears Christian churches were not
decorated with dragonflies in stone, wood or glass. They are, however, commonly
illustrated in the margins of illuminated manuscripts such as Books of Hours, Missals and
Psalters dating from the 14th Century. The Belleville Breviary was illustrated in
the Pucelle workshop between 1323-26 and the damselfly depicted on one of its pages
represents the punning trademark of Jean Pucelle: pucelle being an old word for a maid,
virgin or damsel (demoiselle)!
I’ll admit I created the design first
because I liked it, then looked up the meanings. LOL
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