Cultural depictions of turtles and tortoises

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The Tortoise and the Hare, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology.
The Tortoise and the Hare, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology.

Turtles and tortoises are frequently depicted in popular culture as easygoing, patient, and wise creatures, snapping turtles aside.[1] Due to their long lifespan, slow movement, sturdiness, and wrinkled appearance, they are an emblem of longevity and stability in many cultures around the world.[1][2] Turtles are regularly incorporated into human culture, with painters, photographers, poets, songwriters, and sculptors using them as subjects.[3] They have an important role in mythologies around the world,[4] and are often implicated in creation myths regarding the origin of the Earth.[5] Sea turtles are a charismatic megafauna and are used as symbols of the marine environment and environmentalism.[3]

As a result of its role as a slow, peaceful creature in culture, the turtle can be misconceived as a sedentary animal. However, many types of turtle, especially sea turtles, frequently migrate over large distances in oceans.[6]

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[edit] In religion and mythology

A bas-relief from Angkor Wat, Cambodia, shows Samudra manthan-Vishnu in the centre and his turtle avatar Kurma below.
A bas-relief from Angkor Wat, Cambodia, shows Samudra manthan-Vishnu in the centre and his turtle avatar Kurma below.

The turtle has a prominent position as a symbol of steadfastness and tranquillity in religion, mythology, and folklore from around the world.[6] A tortoise’s longevity is suggested by its long lifespan and its shell, which was thought to protect it from any foe.[2] In the creation myths of several cultures, the turtle or tortoise carries the world upon its back or supports the heavens.[5]

In Chinese tradition the creator goddess Nu Gua cuts the legs off a sea turtle and uses them to prop up the sky after Gong Gong destroys the mountain that had supported the sky. The flat undershell and round domed upper shell of a turtle resembles the ancient Chinese idea of a flat earth and round domed sky.[7]

The World Turtle carries the earth upon its back in myths from North America. In Cheyenne tradition the great creator spirit Maheo kneads some mud he takes from a coot's beak until it expands so much that only Old Grandmother Turtle can support it on her back. In Mohawk tradition, the trembling or shaking of the earth is thought of as a sign that the World Turtle is stretching beneath the great weight that she carries.[5]

In a story from Admiralty Island, people are born from eggs laid by the World Turtle. There are many similar creation stories throughout Polynesia.[5]

Turtles and tortoises are incorporated into many religious traditions and mythologies around the world.[4] In ancient Mesopotamia, the turtle was associated with the god Ea and was used on kudurrus as a symbol of Ea.[8] Ijapa the tortoise is a trickster in a cycle of tales told by the Yoruba of Africa.[5]

In Hindu mythology the world is thought to rest on the backs of four elephants, who stand on the shell of a turtle.[9] In Hinduism, Akupara is a tortoise who carries the world on his back. It upholds the earth and the sea.[2] One avatar of Vishnu is said to be the giant turtle Kurma. The Sri Kurmam Temple in Andhra Pradesh, India is dedicated to the Kurma-avatar.

Japanese Edo Period depiction of a minogame.
Japanese Edo Period depiction of a minogame.

In China, the tortoise is one of the “Four Fabulous Animals”,[2] the most prominent beasts of China. It is of the water element.[10] The other animals are the unicorn, phoenix, and dragon. These animals govern the four points of the compass, with the turtle the ruler of the north, symbolizing endurance, strength, and longevity.[11] It is the only one of the four that is a real animal, although it is depicted with the supernatural features of dragon ears, flaming tentacles at its shoulders and hips, and a long hairy tail. The hairy tail is based on seaweed and the growth of plant parasites that are found on older tortoises’ shells, which flow behind the tortoise as it swims. The tortoise is a symbol of longevity, with a potential lifespan of ten thousand years.[2] Due to its longevity, a symbol of a turtle was often used during burials. A burial mound might be shaped like a turtle, and even called a “grave turtle”. A carved turtle was used as a plinth for memorial tablets of high ranking officials during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE) and the Ming period (1368-1644 CE). Enormous turtles supported the memorial tablets of emperors.[11]

In Feng Shui the rear of the home is represented by the Black Tortoise, which signifies support for home, family life and personal relationships. A tortoise at the back door of a house or in the backyard by a pond is said to attract good fortune and many blessings. Three tortoises stacked on top of each other represents a mother and her babies.[10] In Daoist art the tortoise is an emblem of the triad of earth-humankind-heaven.[12]

In Japan the turtle has developed a more independent tradition than the other three prominent beasts of China. It is known as minogame and is a symbol of longevity and felicity. The minogame is also depicted with a long feathery fan-like tail. A minogame has an important role in the well-known legend of Urashima Tarō. The tortoise is an attribute of Kompira, the deity of seafarers. It is a favoured motif by netsuke-carvers and other artisans, and features in traditional Japanese wedding ceremonies.[2] There is also a well-known tortoise-shell artistic pattern, based on the nearly hexagonal shape of a tortoise’s shell. These patterns usually comprise of symmetrical hexagons, sometimes with smaller hexagons within them.[13]

In Taiwanese villages paste cakes of flour shaped like turtles are made for festivals that are held in honour of the lineage patron deity. People buy these cakes at their lineage temple and take them home to assure prosperity, harmony, and security for the following year.[11]

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] In literature

The Mock Turtle from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Mock Turtle from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The turtle has often been a humorous figure in literature, for example in Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss.[14] In children’s literature, the turtle is often depicted as having a mixture of animal and human characteristics.[15][14]

In Aesop's fable The Tortoise and the Hare, a tortoise defeats an overconfident hare in a race. In the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499), there is an engraving of a woman holding a turtle in one hand and a pair of outspread wings in the other. The turtle symbolises stagnation and slowness, compared to the elevation of the spirit denoted by the wings.[1]

There is a character called the Mock Turtle in Lewis Carroll's Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In the illustration by John Tenniel, the Mock Turtle is depicted as a turtle with the head of a calf, from legs that resemble oysters, and the back legs of a sheep, referencing the real ingredients of mock turtle soup.[16]

Michael Ende's books Momo (1973) and The Neverending Story (1979) feature, respectively, the tortoise Cassiopeia, who can see into the future and display messages on her shell, and the giant, wise swamp turtle Morla. Some other works of his also feature turtles and tortoises. In the books by Terry Pratchett, the Discworld rests on the back of the gigantic star-turtle Great A'Tuin. In the Discworld novel Small Gods the Great God Om manifests as a tortoise. Yertle the Turtle by children's author Dr. Seuss is a king turtle who orders all the other turtles in his pond, called Salamasond, to stack themselves beneath him so that he can look out across all his kingdom but he ends up falling into the mud.[14]

In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses the tortoise as an emblem of the resolve and persistence of the "Okies" that travel west across the US for a better life.[4]

[edit] In cartoons and comics

Bert the turtle
Bert the turtle

Duck and Cover was a six minute civil defence film that starred an animated character called Bert the Turtle. In “Tortoise Wins By A Hare” Bugs Bunny raced the slow moving Cecil Turtle in an Aesop’s Fables spoof.[17]

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are comic-book characters whose adventures have been adapted for TV and film. They are Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. They were created in 1983.[18] They were a cultural phenomenon between 1988 and 1992, with their images ubiquitous in advertising, cinema, comics, magazines, music, newspapers, television.[19] Their action figures were top-sellers around the world. In 1990 the cartoon series was being shown on more than 125 television stations every day and the comic books sold 125,000 copies a month.[18] Their origin – flushed down the toilet and ending up in the sewer system – echoed contemporary stories of small reptiles that were flushed down toilets growing into fierce animals in city sewers.[19] Over The Hedge, both comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis and animated movie from Dreamworks, features a very common-sensical turtle named Verne. And Walt Kelly's Pogo featured a turtle named Churchy LeFemme, always afraid of Friday the 13th and usually wearing a pirate's hat.

[edit] In conservation and tourism

Sea turtles are used to promote tourism, as sea turtles can have a symbolic role in the imaginations of potential tourists. Tourists interact with turtles in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Greece, and the United States. Turtle-based ecotourism activities take place on nesting beaches around the world.[3] Sea turtles are on Tuvalu postage stamps as a national symbol.[3] The mascot of the KAME project is a sea turtle.

Due to the turtles’ status as a charismatic megafauna, they are a flagship species for conservation efforts. Educating the public about turtles and conserving their habitats can positively affect other species in the turtles’ habitat. Turtles are also used as marketing tools to give products the appearance of being environmentally friendly.[3]

Ecotourism has become popular in Brazil. In Praia do Forte a marine conservation project called Tamar (from tartaruga marinha or sea turtle) has more than 300,000 visitors every year, attracted by the idea of saving the habitat of five endangered sea turtle species that nest on the coast. Tamar uses the sea turtle as a symbol for the need for the protection of the coastal environment. Turtle related souvenirs are sold to tourists, and the hotels are “turtle friendly”, being low-rise, dimly lit, and located back from the beach.[20]

At the World Trade Organisation’s 1999 meeting in Seattle, sea turtles were a focal point of protests.[3] A group of protestors from the Earth Island Institute that focused on the issue of TED use in shrimp trawls wore sea turtle costumes. They had brought 500 turtle costumes to the demonstration.[21] Images of protestors wearing turtle costumes were carried in the media, and they became a symbol of the antiglobalisation movement.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  Snapping turtles in fiction can be rather villainous; an example would be Tokka in the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Cirlot, Juan-Eduardo, trans. Sage, Jack, 2002, A Dictionary of Symbols, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-42523-1.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Ball, Catherine, 2004, Animal Motifs in Asian Art, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-43338-2.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lutz, Peter L., Musick, John A., and Wyneken, Jeanette, 2002, The Biology of Sea Turtles, CRC Press, ISBN 0-849-31123-3.
  4. ^ a b c Garfield, Eugene, 1986, The Turtle: A Most Ancient Mystery. Part 1. Its Role in Art, Literature, and Mythology, Towards Scientography: 9 (Essays of An Information Scientist), Isis Press, ISBN 0-894-95081-9.
  5. ^ a b c d e Stookey, Lorena Laura, 2004, Thematic Guide to World Mythology, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-31505-1.
  6. ^ a b Plotkin, Pamela, T., 2007, Biology and Conservation of Ridley Sea Turtles, Johns Hopkins University, ISBN 0-801-88611-2.
  7. ^ Allan, Sarah, 1991, The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China, SUNY Press, ISBN 0-791-40459-5.
  8. ^ Green, Anthony and Black, Jeremy, 1992, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: an illustrated dictionary, University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-70794-0.
  9. ^ Cobb, Kelton, 2005, The Blackwell Guide to Theology and Popular Culture, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-405-10698-0.
  10. ^ a b Moran, Elizabeth, Biktashev, Val and Yu, Joseph, 2002, Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui, Alpha Books, ISBN 0-028-64339-9.
  11. ^ a b c Simoons, Frederick J., 1991, Food in China: A Cultural and Historical Inquiry, CRC Press, ISBN 0-849-38804-X.
  12. ^ Tresidder, Jack, 2005, The Complete Dictionary of Symbols, Chronicle Books, ISBN 0-811-84767-5.
  13. ^ Niwa, Motoji, 2001, trans, Thomas, Jay W., Snow, Wave, Pine: Traditional Patterns in Japanese Design, ISBN 4-770-02689-7.
  14. ^ a b c Smith-Marder, Paula, The Turtle and the Psyche, Journal of Psychological Perspectives, December 2006, 49, 2, p. 228-248, DOI: 10.1080/00332920600998262.
  15. ^ Goldstein, Jeffrey H., 1994, Toys, Play, and Child Development, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-45564-2.
  16. ^ Reichertz, Ronald, 1997, The Making of the Alice Books, McGill-Queen’s Press, ISBN 0-773-52081-3.
  17. ^ Lenburg, Jeff, 2006, Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television, Hal Leonard, ISBN 1-557-83671-X.
  18. ^ a b Long, Mark A., 2002, Bad Fads, ECW Press, ISBN 1-550-22491-3.
  19. ^ a b Jones, Dudley, and Watkins, Tony, 2000, A Necessary Fantasy?: The Heroic Figure in Children's Popular Culture, Routledge, ISBN 0-815-31844-8.
  20. ^ Levine, Robert M., 1999, The History of Brazil, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-30390-8.
  21. ^ Berg, John C., 2003, Teamsters and Turtles?: U.S. Progressive Political Movements in the 21st Century, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0-742-50192-2.

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