Pavo Cristatus

Peacocks to you and me.

They're everywhere - on advertising hoardings,

made into lamp bases, stencilled onto hessian bags.

Some young mum's even have their feather tattooed about

their persons as a symbol of protective motherhood.

Seems a bit extreme to me, but what do I know.

In my day if anyone posed a threat to my children

the look on my face would have been enough to deter

all but the most determined n'ere do well.

 

 

But how many of us, I wonder, even give a moment's thought

to the age old symbolism behind these beautiful birds

which have been used as sampler motifs over the centuries.

For instance, why do they so often appear in pairs?

Because it was believed that a pair of them guarded the

Gates of Paradise, that's why.  So now you know.

 

 

This morning I've been zooming round the lock-up with my

not-so-trusty Pentax in search of cross stitch examples

large and small to create a Long Dog "pride of peacocks".

 

 

Isidore of Seville's seventh century bestiary describes our feathered

friends as "a bird with a terrible voice and flesh too hard to cook"

which in a round about way echoes the belief that their flesh did not

decay after death, that it was incorruptible, and thus they

symbolised immortality.

 

 

The ancient Greeks thought of the peacock tail as the vault

of heaven and the "eyes" as the stars.

 

 

Resurrection and renewal are associated with pavo cristatus

because the birds shed their tail feathers annually and the ancient

Christians used them as church decorations on Easter Sunday.

 

 

Buddhists = wisdom

Native Americans = wholeness and dignity

Hindus = patience, good luck

 

 

Japanese = an emblem of love

India = their national bird

 

 

So bear these things in mind next time you stitch your way

across a peacock's tail or add those last little touches

to its beautiful head.  And say the word

"resurrection" to yourself as you unpick a feather that's

somehow ended up two holes down from all the rest.

 

 

This one can have the last word - it's a British Museum

reproduction kit which I stitched way back in the last century.

Perhaps "longevity and endurance" should also be added to

the peacock's list of attributes.