The symbol of the camel

In general, we know how the camel is the symbol of wealth and eastern paganism for European culture. In Leviticus (11:4) and Deuteronomy (14:7), it is classified as an unclean animal “because it chews the cud and has a hoof” and that, for these reasons it cannot be eaten. In the Zohar, the book of Jewish kabbalistic tradition, the “flying camels” are compared to dragons and winged serpents, guardians of earthly paradise. Also according to the Zohar, the serpent of temptation was a “flying camel.” Moreover, evidence of the similarity between the camel and the ritual serpent is to be found in the Sicilian festive landscape. At Butera, in the province of Caltanissetta, every year in mid-August, during the Feast of San Rocco, there is ‘u sirpintazzu (the snake): a monstrous animal which is half fish and half bird, represented by a coloured cloth worn by a wearer. It is said that the giant snake’s carcass was found beside the body of Saint Blaise, similarly to what reported in the legend of the Giants of Mistretta. By analogy, we find that the roguish and hoarding behaviour of this strange monster is similar to that of the camel of Messina and the gigantello of Mistretta. It can be held that behind these different representations there is a desire to represent the domestication of a threatening entity (an enemy which is more or less real) or the ritualistic or carnavalesque infraction of social rules.