The Phoenix Around the World
     The phoenix appears in many variations in stories around the world. Also, besides its Asian counterparts, there are several distant cousins of the bird, related by common characteristics.

The Feng Huang
     With the dragon, the unicorn, and the tortoise, the phoenix (Fent Huang) is one of the four celestial animals of China. Each one governs one of the quadrants of the heavens. The phoenix, associated with the sun, presides over the southern quadrant. It is regarded as the emperor of the 360 classes of birds.
     The Feng Huang nests in the wu t’ung (dryandra) tree far away in the K’unlun Mountains and appears to mankind only in times of peace. At other times, one can play a stringed instrument under a wu t’ung tree in hopes that the Feng Huang will appear and add its song to the music.
     Unlike the Western phoenix, the Feng Huang is regarded as two birds, the male (Feng) and the female (Huang), who neither die nor are reborn but live eternally in the Land of the Immortals. Together, they represent eternal love.
     The long tail of the Feng Huang is as bright as fire, and its plumage is symbolic of various virtues, a blend of red (uprightness), azure (humanity), yellow (virtue), white (honesty), and black (sincerity). Some say the Feng Huang resembles the Argus pheasant and the peacock. Others say it is a hybrid of other animals, including the swan, the unicorn, the dragon, and the tortoise. The bird’s song is said to be the source of the Chinese musical scale.
     Born of the Sun, the Feng Huang was sacred to the royal family, and its figure was embroidered on the robes of the empresses of China. Its first appearance was first recorded around 2600 B.C. during the reign of Hung Ti, and the bird was later reported seen during the reigns of several other ancient emperors.

The Ho-ho
     The phoenix of Japan is the Ho-ho (Ho-o), which only rarely leaves its heavenly home and descends to earth as a sign of peace and love.

The Cinnamon Bird
     This Arabian bird, also known as the Cinomolgus, is similar to the Western phoenix in that it builds its nest from spices. It figures in a story that explains the origin of cinnamon, an exotic spice once as valuable as gold. Herodotus said no one knows what country these large birds bring their spice from, but that they use mud to attach their nests made from cinnamon sticks to cliff faces. To get the cinnamon, people cut up the carcasses of their beasts of burden and place the meat at the base of the cliffs where the cinnamon birds live. The birds carry the meat to their nests, but the food is so heavy that the nests fall to the ground. The people then collect the cinnamon and sell it to merchants from other countries.

The Ilerion
     While only one phoenix lives at a time, there are two Ilerion (Allerion, Ylerion) in the world at a time. Prester John wrote in his famous letter that after the male and female Ilerion live 60 years, they build a nest. The female lays two eggs and sits on them for 40 days. When the young birds are born, the parent birds – accompanied by all the birds of the land – fly to the sea, where the Ilerion drown themselves. The other birds return to the nest and feed the young Ilerion until they are old enough to nuture themselves.

Salamandra
     The ancient Arabs believed the fire-resistant materials asbestos was the plumage of a phoenix-like bird they called Slamandra. Prester John said in his latter that asbestos was a cloth spun from the silkworm-like covering of the salamander, a lizard that according to fable lived in fire.

The Bird of Paradise
     Also known as Manucodiata, “Bird of the Gods,” this bird is often compared to the phoenix because of its brilliant plumage and its long, resplendent tail feathers. It is said to be born in paradise, like the Chinese Feng Huang and the Japanese Ho-ho. Footless, it spends its life in the air, drinking the dew of heaven, until it dies and drops to earth.      The Greek philosopher Aristotle said there could be no birds without feet, but the Malasyian bird of paradise is scientifically named Paradisea apoda (without feet). Europeans who sailed to the Orient returned with the brightly colored but seemingly legless birds, which natives had skinned and stuck onto sticks.

The Firebird
     A magical bird of Russian folklore, this crested creature with jeweled eyes and shinning feathers steals golden apples from the royal garden. The Tsar offered his kingdom to whichever of his three sons was able to bring the bird to him. Only the youngest, Ivan, did not fall asleep while guarding the tree of golden apples and managed to pluck a feather from the bird’s tail. After pursuing the bird through many adventures, Ivan returned home, inherited the kingdom, and married a beautiful royal maiden.
     There are many variations of this tale, sometimes called “The Firebird,” sometimes “Prince Ivan and the Gray Wolf.” Music lovers are familiar with this fiery bird through Stravinsky’s ballet, The Firebird.



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