Taurus the Bull – Second sign of the Zodiac

Its no surprise in my mind that the Bull has been one of the most enduring symbols across ancient civilizations, representing fertility, strength, and power. For most of us the closest we will ever get to a bull is in the stadium seats of a rodeo. The bull I remember most was growing up in the country, one of our neighbours had a dairy farm and they had a Friesen bull they called Shorty, complete with a ring through his nose.  I don’t know how he got that name because he was immense. But even though he was terrifyingly enormous and could have squashed me like a bug I remember him being super gentle. He would slowly saunter up to the fence and gently accept our tribute of a carrot or two, then he would lower his huge head, leaning to one side so that we could reach up and scratch behind his ears just like he was some kind of oversized dog. Its no wonder that Ferdinand the Bull was one of my favourite stories.

Sacred bull and Picasso bull inspiring Taurus mittens

Domestic or wild, a bull of any breed can still be a fearsome and dangerous animal.  In ancient times, killing or taming a wild bull was considered a heroic feat. Bulls have been revered from cave paintings, carvings, idols, stories, rituals and sacred games. The Taurus constellation is one of the oldest in record, dating back to Ancient Babylon. In the story of Gilgamesh, the goddess Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Gilgamesh, literally the first Superman, kills the bull with his bare hands. Not a nice story, but the Bull of Heaven is rewarded with his unwavering loyalty to his assigned task, even in the face of death by being immortalized in the stars.

In the modern Zodiac, Taurus is the sign following Aries, mid-spring and still associated with strength, steadfast loyalty and nature. The commonly accepted traits of the bull are also linked to this sign, like being prone to stubbornness and unpredictable behavior.

Understandable, as I remember Shorty being pretty hard to move if he didn’t want to move.

For designing the Taurus mittens and ruminating on bulls, it was hard for me not to think of Shorty, and the story of Ferdinand the friendly bull, and of course bull fights. I’m not a fan of bullfighting but there are a lot of bulls depicted in bull-fighting art.  Pablo Picasso most famous for his abstract paintings did an absurd amount of bullfighting art, including a lino-block series of bullfights that look like quick brush strokes or blobs of black that are surprisingly dynamic. Its one of these Picasso blob bulls that inspired my Taurus, strong and muscular and yet able to move swiftly and in unpredictable ways.