For centuries, Europeans saw the bear as an intermediary between the human and animal worlds, promising superhuman might but also threatening descent into the inhuman. Medieval warriors venerated the animal in frenetic rituals, hoping to take on its fearsome power; male bears were said to kidnap and rape young women. Over time, the European bear was tamed, but it maintained its symbolic power, notably as a stand-in for Russia: In 1984, Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign ran an ad showing a bear roaming the forest. “There is a bear in the woods,” a voiceover said ominously. “Some people say the bear …read more
Source: The New Republic
