This magical, mythical bird has long been a part of legends and lore, dating back to the ancient civilizations. In today's culture, the phoenix's legend is still going strong, with a major city in the United States named after the resurrecting beast and popular books and movies, including the phenomenally successful ?Harry Potter? series encompassing the bird into characters and plots.



Stories emanating from oral traditions have a habit of varying from storyteller to storyteller. A teller would put his version of the story and pass it to the next one who would some thought of his or her own and pass it on. Nobody has been able to pin point the myth to one area or time. Hence not only the myth has morphed into various versions, but even the origination of the story has changed.

The main facts of the legend of the Phoenix remain intact, even though history has adulterated the myth itself. The legend states that the Phoenix is a supernatural creature with an incredibly long life span. Some believe the bird is capable of living at least a thousand years and is unable to become sick or injured at any point in its lifetime. Others believe disease or drought can affect the bird, causing it to prematurely enter the next phase of its life.

Once a phoenix has either lived for a thousand years or succumbed to some outside disease or injury, it begins to gather twigs, branches, and wood. This gathering process does not create a nest like other birds, but rather a traditional funeral pyre. A pyre was used in ancient cultures to dispose of a dead body, often including personal artifacts in the rubble that would be burned with their owner. Some cultures even instructed spouses to sacrifice themselves into the pyre upon the death of their mate.

After the pyre has been built, the phoenix ignites and begins to burn. This part of the story has changed and some believe the bird does not need to gather items to create a pyre, but rather self ignites and the flames burn without any fuel. The alteration to the story is not the only one, as there is great debate what happens after the bird is burned.

The traditional story goes that the phoenix ignites himself, burns to ash, and then rises again from the ashes to live another thousand years. This triumph over adversity has caused to bird to become the mascot or symbol of many groups and organizations. Once the bird is born from ashes, the cycle begins anew.

Another variation on this story is that the fire consumes the bird, which has time to lay an egg in the ashes before being completely consumed. This egg hatches a new phoenix, who will live to be a thousand years old before having an offspring in the same method, thus continuing the life cycle of the bird. No one is sure which version of the story is true, but the gist of triumph over adversity is the same.

There are a great many versions of how this story began. Some believe a fire colored bird was captured and the story was created about his origins. Others think the phoenix was actually a raven who was ?dancing? in the embers of a dying fire, a behavior known as ?anting.?