>Symbolic stuff is very hard to interpret from outside the context of a culture. Perhaps you are proving your own point by overlooking another purpose for grot

>Symbolic stuff is very hard to interpret from outside the context of a culture. Perhaps you are proving your own point by overlooking another purpose for grotesques and gargoyles - they were used as a means of attracting pagans to church. Christianity in Europe appropriated many of the pagan rituals and beliefs - and incorporation of the symbols of the pagan religions played a part in the growth of Christianity in Europe, where paganism thrived. It was, therefore, a marketing tool as well as a rain control mechanism.