Gargoyles

[Sissy]

An old French word that originally had to do with the gurgling of the throat.
It is where our English word "gargle" comes from.
They were most popular as rain gutter spouts for old buildings (churches, castles, etc.)
These spouts diverted water away from running down the sides of stone and mortar buildings to protect the stones and mortar from deteriorating.
So the water pouring through their mouths gave rise to them being called gargoyles.

Notre Dame Cathedral



I have heard tradition (or legend) that they warded off evil spirits.
I don't know, and have found very little on when that tradition started or what it was based on.

In more modern times the word gargoyle came to be a grotesques creature usually with bat-like wings.
I don't know how that tradition got started either.
But still had the reputation of protecting from evil spirits.

Notre Dame Cathedral

 

[patrick jane]

I always liked Olive Oyle

 

[shroom]

I always liked Olive Oyle

...too skinny for me.

 

[Mr G Lee]

...too skinny for me.

The overweight one. . I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

 

[shroom]

The overweight one. . I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

Wimpy, as I recall...

 

[Phedup]

The Strange, Real History of Gargoyles | The Mary Sue

Ever wonder just how gargoyles became a thing in the first place? Well, let me tell you.

www.themarysue.com

"The relation of gargoyles to paganism is quite fitting. While classic gargoyles are a product of the middle ages, the practice of decorating drain spouts with animals, and creatures like gargoyles goes way back, even to Ancient Egypt and other pagan/non-christian places. So slapping them on churches was useful in other ways beyond functional and aesthetic. They were tools for conversion."

10 Fanciful Facts about Gargoyles

These decorative downspouts are full of surprises.

www.mentalfloss.com

"4. THEY ALSO BROUGHT PAGANS TO CHURCH.​

Churches would also model gargoyles after the creatures worshipped by pagan tribes, thinking this would make their houses of worship appear more welcoming to them. It was a bit of clever marketing that worked, according to scholar Darlene Trew Crist. "Churches grew in number and influence as the pagan belief system and many of its images were absorbed into Christianity," she wrote in American Gargoyles: Spirits in Stone."

It kinda reminds me of a guy who used human sacrafice, a concept practiced and accepted by gentile pagans, in his brand of religion to convert the gentile pagans.

Walking away, walking away.

"What are these fantastic monsters doing in the cloisters before the eyes of the brothers as they read? What is the meaning of these unclean monkeys, these strange, savage lions and monsters? To what purpose are here placed these creatures, half beast, half man or these spotted tigers? I see several bodies with one head and several heads with one body. Here is a quadruped with a serpent's head; there a fish with a quadruped's head; then again an animal: half horse, half goat... Surely, if we do not blush for such absurdities, we should at least regret what we have spent on them."- St. Bernard of Clairvaux aka "Kill Joy."

 

[Mr G Lee]

It would seem image idols were used to scare a person into believing . The foundation of necromancy seeking after the things that go bump in the night,

 

[SteVen]

An old French word that originally had to do with the gurgling of the throat.
It is where our English word "gargle" comes from.
They were most popular as rain gutter spouts for old buildings (churches, castles, etc.)
These spouts diverted water away from running down the sides of stone and mortar buildings to protect the stones and mortar from deteriorating.
So the water pouring through their mouths gave rise to them being called gargoyles.

That's interesting, thanks.
I wonder if this followed the Gothic architectural style?
Which carried over even into Midwest regional churches and farms in America.
Which reminds me of this painting by Grant Wood titled American Gothic.
Most notable is the window shape. Churches and their furnishings followed this style.





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