I honestly think this is the first time I had a lot of actual leftovers from the previous dish, Dungeon Meshi Maniacs! The recipe made so much that Editor and I froze the potstickers we didn't eat from last time in easy to grab packets. We even made a nice potsticker soup with one and still have lots left! But you've not here to listen to me go on and on about what's in my freezer. No, you're here for the weekly odd discussion that may or may not have anything to do with the dish we just cooked! And this week does not! Pull up a chair as we talk all things gargoyle!
DMM's with 20/20 memory will recall that I mentioned writing a paper on gargoyles back in college. They've been a long fascination of mine not simply for their grotesque design but their functionality as well. As you may or may not know, the very word Gargoyle comes from the French word Gargouille which, from nearly 30 year old memory, means "to gargle". You see, the Gargoyle is actually supposed to be a fancy downspout!
A pipe runs from the building's gutters through the mouth...if you're lucky...of the gargoyle and out into the streets. Remember, DMM's, Water Kills Buildings! You want that terrifying H2O as far away from your building as possible. But why weird monsters? Well, they weren't always grotesques. Ancient Egypt used animal faces, for example. Some are just funny looking people spitting out water. But why anything? Wouldn't a downspout work without needing to be ornate? Art, dude! If you were rich enough to build something you want to show off. And what better way than having your downspouts looking cool?
The grotesque gargoyles that we all know and love today really didn't take off until the Gothic architecture boom of the 12th Century. They also moved away from being functional at this point. As you may have guessed, upkeep of a stone feature that had water running through it was difficult. They would erode and fall off. Seeing how they jutted off the building this meant they fell into the street! How many people do you think were squished by a falling gargoyle, DMMs?
The symbology of a gargoyle is something we also cannot ignore. There is the going theory that gargoyles are ugly because they are meant to ward off evil spirits. Kind of like a stone scarecrow. I can see people in the 12th Century believing this...maybe. But it always struck me as an idea being forced onto history rather than based on actual fact. Seems like a lot of money to spend when prayer would work. Another theory is to tell Bible stories to the illiterate masses. Jim the Serf could look at a stone statue of Jesus telling demons to go into a pig and get the gist. Once again, I'm not completely sold on this. Rich people have never cared what poor people thought. Why would they want Jim to know what the Bible says unless they tell Jim what to think? My thought on the subject? They were popular and in style. Simple as that!
Now you can take all the symbolism and reading between the stone lines and throw them out the window once we get to the Gothic Revival of the 1800's. That really was upfront a "this is cool" movement. We may not learn the Bible from these gargoyles but wow, they are absolute works of art, DMMs! Thanks to centuries of experience they were built to last and became a bit more playful. More modern gargoyles can be whatever the mason wants to create. One of the most famous modern gargoyles is the Xenomorph-shaped grotesque on the Paisley Abbey in Scotland that was added in the early 1990's!
Why do I like gargoyles, you ask? Good question, DMMs. I find them a little comforting. I like thinking there are a set of stone eyes watching over me as I go through a city. And there are times I wonder what it would be like to see the course of history from my perch several hundreds of feet above the streets. Of course I feel the same about weathervanes so I may just be a romantic for stuff you decorate a building with!
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