New Heraldic Image: How do we create it & define it?

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JMcMillan
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Re: New Heraldic Image: How do we create it & define it?

Postby JMcMillan » 03 Aug 2013, 13:52

What Ed is trying to do would only be possible if heraldic charges had defined, unvarying symbolic significance, but for the most part they don't. Even those that do have specific meaning attached to them--such as the pelican as a symbol of the eucharist--don't always mean what they traditionally have. Louisiana's emblem is apparently a pelican because the first American governor liked pelicans; at most it is (or has become) a symbol of sacrifice in a secular sense. In medieval art, the unicorn was a symbol of Christ, but that's hardly how it's perceived by most people today.

A great blue heron can certainly be used in heraldry as a symbol of whatever it represents in one American Indian culture or another. Presumably people steeped in that culture will get the reference immediately (as people steeped in European medieval culture get immediately that pelican = eucharist); others will have to have it explained to them. But at this late date, the idea that the blue heron can be established as automatically signifying "messenger from the gods" or "wisdom, patience, perseverance" (and which of these does it mean in any particular coat?) seems impracticable.
Joseph McMillan
Alexandra, Virginia, USA

Ryan Shuflin
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Re: New Heraldic Image: How do we create it & define it?

Postby Ryan Shuflin » 03 Aug 2013, 20:26

Chris Green wrote:
The issue was defining the heraldic meaning for new images, specifically incorporating Native American meanings.


So a good example would need to be something specific to Native Americans rather than a bird or animal. My knowledge of the Native American way of life is virtually completely skewed by an early diet of western films. But I did glean that, as well as a great respect for the natural world, there was also a sort of mystic communion with ancestors and the spirit world.

Of course every tribe had different customs, but choosing the Cree at random, one finds (thanks to Wiki) that there was a belief in an entity called the Mannegishi. Now I don't see that it would be any more difficult to have a Mannegishi as a charge than any of the fabulous creatures in European heraldry, the Green Man, half tree half human for example.


Sounds like an Amerindian Leprechaun. It seems that mostly "native" heraldry does not seem to include many beings from mythology, but more people and objects. The Canadian registry has some First Nations fantastical creatures, I found some examples of thunder birds:
http://reg.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=576&ProjectElementID=2023
http://reg.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=1303&ProjectElementID=4291
http://reg.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=2069&ProjectElementID=7259

These three are all Thunderbirds, but as you can see they are depicted and described with a degree of variety. Also, I noticed that no personal arms had a First Nation fantastical creature.

Also, has the Green Man been used in heraldry?

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Chris Green
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Re: New Heraldic Image: How do we create it & define it?

Postby Chris Green » 03 Aug 2013, 21:39

[url]Has the Green Man been used in heraldry?[/url]

Certainly, both as a charge and as a supporter. Can't provide any examples at short notice I'm afraid.
Chris Green
IAAH President

Bertilak de Hautdesert


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