Unicorns were mentioned as far back as antiquity—ancient Greek writers believed they lived in the faraway and exotic country of India, which was then largely unknown to Europeans. However, the unicorn was then thought to be a powerful, fierce animal that was not to be meddled with.
- In the Middle Ages, the unicorn’s image was based greatly on Bible passages that were thought to speak of these animals, and unicorns slowly came to be seen as a symbol of strength, the purest kind of love, and the pets of virgin women.
- In fact, there is even a sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding a unicorn on her lap and patting it in Warsaw’s National Museum. Thus, unicorns have been appearing in works of literature for thousands of years.
- The most prominent more modern examples include Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. The whole immensely popular My Little Pony franchise is also based on unicorns.
- The earliest record of unicorns in Western literature belongs to Greek historian Ctesias. In the 5th century BCE, he wrote that the beast had a white body, purple head, blue eyes, and a multicolored horn—red at the tip, black in the middle, and white at the base.
- Unicorn Day was created to celebrate these majestic creatures and help adults remember how much more fun life can be when we let a little magic in sometimes.
- Divining Truth: The unicorn is thought to hold the power to divine truth and will pierce the heart of a liar with its horn.
- Supreme Strength: According to Jewish legend, the unicorn can easily kill an elephant, a testament to its immense power and strength.
- Purity: It is believed that the unicorn is attracted to purity and innocence, giving rise to the legend of the virgin and the unicorn. According to this ancient legend, only a virgin sitting naked under a tree holds the power to capture a unicorn. Seeing her beauty and pureness, the unicorn reportedly will venture close and lay down beside the virgin placing his head in her lap, where the hunter can then kill or capture him.
- Untamable: It is said that even if the unicorn is captured, it can never be tamed.
- Unicorns can be any color, from jet-black and brown to dazzling gold, brilliant red or pure white.
- Anyone who touches a pure white unicorn will find happiness and joy for his entire life.
- The unicorn’s eyes are sky blue or purple.
- This one is probably the most intriguing fact we’ve seen… We do not recommend killing or harming unicorns, but hunting for them can be a lot of fun. To do that you will need an official “Unicorn Hunting License”. You can get your own Unicorn Hunting License for free at the Lake Superior University. This license is good for a lifetime (and beyond) and can be used anywhere on earth.
- The gleaming, magical horn that’s captured our hearts is officially called an alicorn.
- The first-ever depiction of one-horned creatures is often cited as appearing in 15,000 BCE paintings found in the Lascaux Caves in France. It’s likely the paintings are actually of some sort of bovine, with its horns drawn a bit too close together.
- Beginning in 1985, the Ringling Bros. circus began advertising a “living unicorn“as an attraction. His name was Lancelot, and he was actually a goat whose horns had naturally fused together into a single unicorn-like horn.
- Despite their non-existence, unicorns are the national animal of Scotland and appear on the coats of arms for many locations around Europe.
- A baby unicorn is called a sparkle.
- The King James version of the Old Testament contains nine references to unicorns, thanks to a mistranslation of the Hebrew word re’em. The original word was likely the Assyrian rimu (auroch), an extinct species of wild ox.
- A US patent was granted for a surgical procedure to create Unicorns in 1980.
- German dealers even sold a Unicorn ‘horn’ to the pope for a huge amount of money in 1560.
- There were pharmacies in London selling powdered Unicorn horn in 1741.
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