WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Jan 16
Dragon History Day
There Be Dragons
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"Fear the Linton Worm! Beware the woeful Wyvern!"
Dear, oh dear, there's always some troublesome fire breather or brimstone busybody making it hard to get to your dance class and focus.
Whether you see yourself as a dragon slayer, tamer, or scholar, knowing your dragons these days is an absolute must. This John Drewry jig serves as a playful yet rigorous training ground for aspiring defenders against dragons and serpentine monsters alike. Think of it as dragon-slaying boot camp, complete with chains (perhaps evoking chain mail), intricate double figure eights, circular chases with pivots and direction reversals, and other figures designed to hone your agility for bobbing and weaving when necessary.
Dragons, Lindworms, and Wyverns have long haunted the British countryside, leaving their mark on countless regional legends. In British heraldry, a Lindworm is a wingless, serpentine creature with two clawed arms on its upper body, while the Wyvern is a legendary bipedal dragon with a tail that often ends in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip! Interestingly, neither Lindworms nor Wyverns breathe fire—a fearsome trait reserved for their four-legged dragon cousins.
The phrase “Here be dragons” (or “There be dragons”) originated as a warning for uncharted or dangerous territories. Medieval mapmakers would decorate unexplored regions with illustrations of dragons, sea monsters, and other mythical creatures.
Protection against dragons in the British Isles included:
🧩 Wit & Respect
Outsmarting dragons with riddles, bargains, or patience
Never stealing from a guarded place (especially wells or caves)
🎁 Offerings Instead of Fighting
Milk, grain, or silver left to appease land-spirits
Greed angered dragons; restraint pacified them
🪢 Knots & Spoken Charms
Celtic knotwork acted as a “binding” symbol
Spoken charms were often whispered—not shouted—to avoid provocation
Other items that sometimes worked were the sound of bells, Celtic crosses, and juniper or rowan wood smoke.
True, it does make packing for dance class a bit tedious, but you can't be too careful these days! Don't be scared! Be Prepared! ❤️ 💚 💛 🔥 🐉 🐉 🐉
There Be Dragons
The Hunt-Lenox globe, dated 1510, is the only actual item which contains the famous warning "Beware of Dragons," specifically "Hic sunt dracones. " There are no known maps with the text of this warning. Interestingly, this popular belief may spring from a modern reference from one of Dorothy L. Sayers' short stories, "The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head" in the 1928 story "Lord Peter Views the Body" in which a character refers to having seen "hic dracones" on an old map.
Dragons and serpent-like creatures are featured in the myths of cultures spanning the globe and are often divided into specific regional types.
The four-legged dragon, the two-legged wyvern, and the legless lindworm occur throughout much of British and European folklore and helraldry.
From Cirein Croin, a sea serpent believed to be the largest creature ever, to the long, thick tailed wingless Beithar who haunted the quarries and mountains around Glen Coe, to the infamous Loch Ness Monster, dragons and their ilk have long been a part of Scottish folklore.
The Linton Worm and the Dundee dragon are two other fearsome dragon-type beasties with a history of menacing the countryside.
For more on whether or not and where this warning occurs on ancient maps click the vintage ocean map.
And for a video of "There be Dragons" performed at the Animal Themed Party, in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, 2016, see below.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
