Tarasque
According to the Golden Legend, the beast had a lion-like head, a body protected by turtle-like carapace(s), six feet with bear-like claws, a serpent's tail, and could expel a poisonous breath.
Medieval iconography such as renditions in church sculpture did not necessarily conform to this description in the earlier Gothic period, and examples which seemed to were later assigned later, 14th century dates.
The effigy or float (French: char) of the tarasque has been built over the years for parading through town for the occasion, carried by four to a dozen men concealed inside.
The Tarasque was designated one of "Processional Giants and Dragons in Belgium and France" listed in November 2005 as part of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
[10][a] In Provence, France, the monster allegedly inhabited the forested banks of the Rhône between Arles and Avignon, around what is now the town Tarascon (then called Nerluc or 'black place'), but lurked in the river and attacked the men trying to cross it, sinking boats.
[11] There is also a fourth variant Latin account, a "Life of St. Mary Magdalene and her sister St. Martha" (Vita Beatae Mariae Magdalenae et sororis ejus Sanctae Marthae) with somewhat divergent content from the other three,[25] whose authorship had formerly been credited to Raban Maur (d. 856 AD),[21][17] but since rejected as a false attribution,[27] being the work of an unknown author perhaps as early as the late 12th century,[28][29] or as late as the second half of the 13th century.
[11] Even the turtle-like carapaces (Latin: parmae "shields") is attested in this c. 1200 piece of writing,[m] even though some commentators ventured it to be a 15th-century addition, created out of expedience to conceal the men carrying the beast's effigy paraded through town for the Pentecostal festivities.
[44] The tail was "long and ringed and looked considerably like that of the scorpion" in a lost sculpture on a face of an old church (Église Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon) according to surgeon-author Laurent Jean Baptiste Bérenger-Féraud [fr].
[51] The pseudo-Raban speaks at length of the poisonous fumes exhaled by the tarasque: draco terribilis oberrabat, incredibilis longitudinis, et magnae molis; fumum pestiferum flatu, scintillas sulphureas oculis, sibilos stridentes ore, rugitusque horribiles aduncatis dentibus, proferens; quidquid incidisset in eum ungulis et dente dilanians; quidquid propius accessisset anhelitus sui fetore mortificans.
It breathed out poisonous fumes, shot sulfurous flames from its eyes, and emitted fierce hissings with its mouth and horrible noises with its curved teeth.
[55][56][o] One source (Abbé François Canéto) has Raban Maur stating that the poison breath shot out of the tarasque's nostrils in thick vapours.
In the language of heraldry, the coat of arms has been described as featuring "below [the castle with crenelated towers argent] a dragon of sinople devouring a man and covered with scales of gold".
The aforementioned sculpture once incorporated into the right side exterior of Église Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon purportedly dated to the 11th century,[45] and counted as the oldest representation recorded.
[17] This tarasque was a quadruped that bore close resemblance to the beast trodden underfoot by St. Martha in the paneling sculpture of the choir stalls at Cathédrale Sainte-Marie d'Auch, according to Abbé François Canéto.
[72] The festival of the tarasque was initiated on April 14, 1474, during Pentecost in Tarascon, at the behest of René of Anjou, in order to amuse his citizens with a reenactment of St. Martha's miracle.
[43] The head could be manipulated by a person inside, making the effigy's jaws open or close;[17] from out of its nostrils fuses or rockets were made to poke out and ignited so it issued fiery sparks.
[85] In the gap years (first half of the 20th century) when the jeu de Tarasque was in hiatus, different authorities were claiming different weeks and weekdays around Pentecost Sunday for the proper day for the ceremony, according to Eliza Gutch (d. 1931)'s paper, published posthumously.
[85][101][86] The Tarasque was designated one of "Processional Giants and Dragons in Belgium and France" listed in November 2005 as part of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
[112] The Spanish version is tinged with misogynistic elements, or rather repudiations against biblical and historical temptresses, with statues and statuettes of such female figures (called "tarasquillas"[113]) surmounted on top of the tarasca dragon.
