Give me the power of man's red flower

It’s interesting to think of a world without fire. No bonfires for s’mores, that’s obviously the main concern. 

No, it’s true; a world without fire would be a very different world indeed. For many people, the origin of fire is with cavemen and hitting rocks against each other… or it’s something that is never really given any thought. Yet, fire means different things for different people, which is especially recognizable in the origin stories of fire.

Perhaps the original dragon and possessor of fire was the iguana. In Central America, this was thought

to be the case and the story goes that the iguana climbed towards the sky and took fire with him, after quarrelling with his wife… so Mrs Iguana is to blame for why humans didn’t have fire sooner. Interestingly, man commissioned birds to try and bring the fire back to the ground. After that failed, the trusty possum (opossum) reclaimed the fire for man… why a possum I’m not sure, personally I don’t find them the most inspiring of animals!

The Sakalava and Tsimihety of Madagascar said Soldiers of the Sun (flames) tried and defeat the supremely powerful Thunder. Considering Madagascar is one of the most bounteous places for wildlife, it’s interesting that, unlike the Quiches of Guatemala, they did not relate animals and fire. A cool story, but battling with Thunder never sounds like a good idea. Thunder only won because ‘of his old friends the clouds’ who literally rained on the Flame’s parade. 

The fire was put out and had to retreat into mountains, stones and sticks. Hence, today we have

volcanoes and can start fires with stones and sticks.

Finally, a look to Tasmania. Was it two black men or the stars that are the origin of fire. Two black men made fire with wood and then ‘no more was fire lost in our land’… bit of an anticlimax considering the other tales of origin. The cool thing in this story is that the bite of a blue can bring people, who appear dead, back to life!