The upcoming organisers of Autumn Agora Zaragoza are infamous for their ability to steal flags and mascots. Moreover, they are also well-known for being a big antenna that has active members involved in many well-thought decisions. Even when they chose which mascot(s) should represent their city in the centre of Europe in the middle of nowhere?
Ander Guerrero Ruiz who is one of the many AEGEEan freelance journalists from AEGEE-Zaragoza gives you here the story behind their mascot Deborah.
Why is your mascot a cobra?
In AEGEE-Zaragoza we were bored with all the “innocent” mascots around AEGEE, and, therefore, in Zaragoza we thought we had to find something more passionate, spicier and exotic to show how we are in Zaragoza.
We are famous for our love for Jamón, the Ebro, and the river of tequila and kingdom of anti-cobras. So after some ideas, the decision was clear… a cobra would be the perfect mascot for us!
Why is it named Deborah Cobra?
So… if you have met any member of AEGEE-Zaragoza you should know it. Deborah is the live result of the technique known as “Anti-cobra”. Many people already know it and/or have been delighted by one of our members doing it, but we will explain it for virgin people. “Anti-cobra” is an originally created name and technique that comes from a normal “cobra”: you are in a bar, in a club, in an AEGEE event, everywhere and one boy or girl is really close (more than you would like to, in this case…) to you, you can see their intentions and they decide to make the move and kiss you, you have to be quick to avoid the kiss and the move you make is similar to the movement of a Cobra.
Coming from this “do the cobra” expression, there are other techniques called “Anti-cobra”, “Double anti-cobra, “Anti-cobra extreme”, etc… but those are for experts. We will not describe it for you, but in case you don’t know about it yet then you can discover through asking some representatives from AEGEE-Zaragoza.
When did you get your mascot?
The mascot will turn one year soon. One year ago we thought that it was time already for AEGEE-Zaragoza to have a mascot, so we started to think about “the chosen one” (type and name) and we decided by an overall majority that Deborah Cobra should be the mascot of AEGEE-Zaragoza.
Is it true that you have 12 copies of your mascot? Why is that the case? Are you planning to give her away like your friends from León do with Leoncio?
Yes! Deborah Cobra is actually a crew of Deborahs! To be honest, it was something unexpected. We saw a suitable cuddly toy to be the icon of Deborah, we ordered her through Internet and it came from a long, long distance. Although we thought it was a bit expensive for being just a mascot, it was our lovely and valuable mascot, so we paid for it. The surprise was that once we opened the box… one, two, three, four… up to twelve Deborah Cobras appeared! However, Deborah likes to take too many risks, travel a lot, etc.; so, it’s her life insurance! If something happens, or she needs to take a break to “change her skin”…. we still need our mascot! That is why we are not planning to give any Deborah away.
Do you have any stories featuring your mascot already? A little birdie says that one of your 12 mascots was broken by a member from AEGEE-Helsinki? Is that true, and how?
As we have said, Deborah in her short life has experienced a lot (the crazy Summer University of Zaragoza, Valladolid, Budapest, Erasmus Trips etc.) and a lot of stories could be told… because Deborah has lived and seen a lot, but she is really cautious and there are some AEGEE-Zaragoza Top Secrets.
To enhance the legend of Deborah Cobra it’s true that a well-known AEGEE-Helsinki member almost killed Deborah in the middle of a silly game with other well-known member of AEGEE-Zaragoza… but, Deborah has pure AEGEE-Zaragoza spirit so she is tough, resistant and immortal. Long live to Deborah Cobra!!!
Written by Ander Guerrero Ruiz, AEGEE-Zaragoza.