In almost every culture the Pheonix appears only when something either evil or important is going to happen. The Pheonix has come to symbolize the cyle of death and rebirth.

Once every hundred years it is told that the Pheonix would be consumed by it's own flames. There would be nothing left of the bird but it's own ashes. Then the creature would be reborn, like a spark from a fire, and would become powerful...renewed.