The unexpected significance of the Year of the Dragon for Russia has been named

That the coming year? Since most of 2024 will pass, according to the Eastern calendar, “under the control” of the Dragon, we can expect the greatest success and luck for those of our fellow citizens who live in places one way or another marked with “dragon” symbolism. But, as we managed to find out, there are not many such points on the map of Russia.

To begin with, a toponymic exclusive. Attempts to discover settlements on the map of our country named after the “owner” of the New Year have yielded very modest results. On all 17-odd million square kilometers of the territory of the largest state in the world, a single settlement was discovered, “the namesake” of the mythical monster, so beloved in Southeast Asia. This is the village of Drakonovo in the Krasnoborsky district of the Arkhangelsk region, located 775 kilometers from the capital.

True, the desire to take a closer look at at least the plan of this settlement led to embarrassment: the all-knowing Internet “guide” showed… Just a “dummy” – a tract, that is, a place where, apparently, there used to be a village with that name. By the way, the Yaytsevka River flows not far from there. Very significant in these times of egg force majeure!

But another direction of search turned out to be more productive. It was possible to discover in Russia several cities, urban districts, towns, even entire regions, on the coats of arms of which a dragon is depicted.

Let’s take a look at what kind of places these are where residents have the right to count in the coming months on special protection from the zodiac symbol “taking over duty.”

The most significant on this list is, of course, the million-plus city Kazan. The officially approved description of the coat of arms of the capital of Tatarstan reads: “In a silver field on green land, a black dragon with scarlet wings and tongue, with golden paws, claws and eyes, crowned with a golden crown.”

Another city that has a “dragon” coat of arms is the regional center of Kashira near Moscow. The description of this heraldic element is as follows: “In an intersected azure and silver field at the top is a golden Greek cross; below – on the green earth, a black dragon with a golden beak, paws and crown and with scarlet eyes, a tongue spewing flame and wings.”

Such an unusual heraldic character for Central Russia appeared here, in one of the cities of the Moscow region, a long time ago and by no means by chance. According to the armorial, compiled at the end of the 18th century, on the coat of arms of Kashira the dragon Zilant, “representing the coat of arms of Kazan”, is depicted “as a reminder that this city under the Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich was given as an inheritance to Abdyl Letif, the deposed Tsar of Kazan…”

The same character, a dragon, is also present on the coat of arms of the Kashirsky municipal district of the Moscow region. And also on the coat of arms of its “namesake” – the Kashirsky district of the Voronezh region.

These two territories, located quite far from each other, are kind of twin cities. The administrative center of the current Voronezh Kashirskoye district is the village of Kashirskoye, which arose more than 250 years ago after hundreds of migrant peasants were sent here from the Kashirskoye district near Moscow (at that time it belonged to the Tula province). They “brought” with them the name for the new settlement.

Voronezh residents have a mythological reptile on their coat of arms with an agricultural production tool. From the official description: “In a silver field… a black dragon with a golden beak, paws, scarlet (red) tongue and eyes and azure (blue, light blue) wings, with his right paw resting on a straight-facing golden plow…” Thus, the coat of arms captures an important stage from the history of this region: the main task of the above-mentioned settlers was the development of new fertile arable lands.

Another territory that has “privatized” the symbol of the “protagonist” of 2024 for its heraldry is the Mezhevsky district of the Kostroma region. Its currently officially registered coat of arms looks like this: “In a scarlet field… standing St. George the Victorious, turned to the right, with a golden halo, in gold and silver armor, in silver gloves, black boots and a purple cloak with a gold clasp, … striking in black with a spear and trampling the converted reclining golden dragon, whose tail entwines the right leg of St. George the Victorious.”

Looking at such a heraldic “picture”, perhaps, one can come to the conclusion that residents of the Mezhevsky district should not particularly count on the favor of the “dragon”. After all, on the local coat of arms he is shown in a less than pleasant situation: St. George stepped on his tail, and even pokes him in the mouth with a spear.

Probably, another heraldic sign where its image is used does not look too nice for a dragon – the coat of arms of the city of Kyakhta, located in Buryatia on the border with Mongolia. This ancient settlement, which became famous several centuries ago for the fact that the main trade route from China to Russia passed through it, has a large coat of arms, the field of which is divided into four parts, the first and third of which depict “… a golden severed head of a dragon with a beak and teeth of the same metal, scarlet eyes and tongue…”

The explanation for the seemingly cruel treatment of the miracle beast by the authors of the coat of arms is found in the description dated 1861: “The full dragon symbolizes China, and the dragon’s head is a symbol of the cities that traded with China.” So don’t be offended, “drakosha,” by the Kyakhta people! No bullying on their part.

The next finds for the heraldic dragon collection were the city of Novaya Lyalya in the Sverdlovsk region and the district of which it is the administrative center. The coat of arms here depicts “…a walking golden dragon (serpent) with four legs with silver fangs and claws, emitting scarlet flames from its mouth, nostrils and ears; below is a golden stumpy abstract indirect cross, dotted with scarlet drops, on which the serpent rests with three paws…” The description provides explanations for this symbolism: “The dragon and crossed logs symbolize the various stages of the logging and processing cycle, represented in the area by a single complex. Logs – actual logging; red drops – collection of resin. The dragon’s crest indicates the mechanical processing of wood, the flames it emits indicate chemical (hydrolysis, cellulose) production, and the spiral of the tail indicates paper production.” This turns out to be an industrial miracle beast!