The gate of the year

Sculpted corbel in the shape of a bear, from the Church of St. John the Baptist, Adel, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, built in the XII century. The animal seems to be muzzled, like the domesticated bears which were taken around by traveling trainers, but at the same time it appears as in the act of devouring two human heads. It is possible that the artist wanted to represent the two aspects of the bear: the fierce animal and the tamed beast, that correspond to the two central moments in the feasts of the bear maintained in some Carnivals, in the Alps, in France and in the Basque Country.

[Image: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8423/7674761880_8d1f3c27b8]




Animals

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Sculpted corbel in the shape of a bear, from the Church of St. John the Baptist, Adel, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, built in the XII century. The animal seems to be muzzled, like the domesticated bears which were taken around by traveling trainers, but at the same time it appears as in the act of devouring two human heads. It is possible that the artist wanted to represent the two aspects of the bear: the fierce animal and the tamed beast, that correspond to the two central moments in the feasts of the bear maintained in some Carnivals, in the Alps, in France and in the Basque Country. [Image: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8423/7674761880_8d1f3c27b8]