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Paper long abstract

From Antiquity to modern-day Walt Disney animated movies, dragons have been represented as snake-like winged creatures breathing fire; a terrifying figure engendering fear and chaos that must be destroyed. ‘Dragons’ are very common mythical creatures in Europe, the Near East, the Far East, Mesoamerica, North America, Asia and Africa. This paper aims to fill the gap in our knowledge about the dragon figure in the Pacific and to analyse it from Pacific cultural perspectives. Oral traditions throughout Oceania portray a nuanced human–nature relationship marked by both reverence and apprehension. Our study will analyse the antiquity of the dragon figure in the Pacific, its embodiment of natural phenomena, its multiple genders (male, female, hermaphroditic) and its ambivalent character. Pacific snake-like creator spirits (the Rainbow Serpent in Australia and Papua New Guinea, or the Taniwha in New-Zealand) are deeply intertwined with the environment: by bringing chaos, they generate life and death, i.e. the ultimate cycle of nature which must be dreaded and revered; fear bringing about respect. Those native dragon-nature-related beliefs have a significant echo in our modern world.