21-05-2017, 09:58 AM
Outside of the herbal tradition, frogs are often depicted carved on holy water fonts across Catholic churches because they were associated with good harvests and fertile soil, being a link between water and earth. I've seen them in cathedrals here in Spain, which is why I looked it up not so long ago.
The tradition, I seem to remember, goes all the way back to Egypt, where frogs used to appear before the floods of the Nile. Even today there is a Spanish saying: "See a frog, prepare for the rains".
As opposed to toads, which were evil in nature. The two form a symbolic duo : frog / toad, good / bad, which can still be seen in church engravings. You can see toads engraved ontop of skulls as a reminder of sins committed in life pursuing you into death.
So the image could be a soil attribute rather than image mnemonic?
The tradition, I seem to remember, goes all the way back to Egypt, where frogs used to appear before the floods of the Nile. Even today there is a Spanish saying: "See a frog, prepare for the rains".
As opposed to toads, which were evil in nature. The two form a symbolic duo : frog / toad, good / bad, which can still be seen in church engravings. You can see toads engraved ontop of skulls as a reminder of sins committed in life pursuing you into death.
So the image could be a soil attribute rather than image mnemonic?