CULTURE, RELIGION, AND BELIEF SYSTEMS • 1$§ttt:lW ...... _ ..' G. (2005). Animism: Respecting the living world. london: C. Hurst & Co. / New York: columbia University Press / Adelaide: Wakefield Press. Howell, S. (1996). Nature in culture or culture in nature? Chewong ideas of "humans" and other species. In P. Descola & G. Palsson (Eds.,) Nature and society:. Anthropological. perspectives. (pp. 127-44). london: Routledge. Tylor, E. (1871). Primitive culture. london: John Murray.

Graham Harvey

• Culture, Religion, and Belief Systems as Symbols in Human Culture

All human cultures relate intangible ideas to aspects of our physical environment in some symbolic way. Perhaps we allow our preoccupying self-perception to overflow into the rest of the world. Perhaps we symbolize in order to become more familiar with mysterious and complex things in our experience. Among the many objects in nature that are suitable for our symbolic use, the enjoys a privileged position because it is conspicuous, humanlike in many ways, and behaViorally interesting. Most birds are about in the daytime and tolerant of humans; they tend to be socially monogamous and provide parental care; they can be brightly colored and energetic; many of them sing loudly, distinctively, and beautifully; their activity tends to be obvious and provides easy insights to their lives; and among them are superb navigators, migrators, and builders. Above all, however, birds are excellent objects for our symbolic exploitation because they fly. Probably the most universal symbol we have applied to birds derives from their ability to roam the three-dimensional world above us, the place we rever­ ently call "the heavens," the home of celestial bodies, deities, and the best of the dead. Any small bird in most cultures can be conceived as a soul, or even as the particular soul of a dead person. Consistent with their nearness to the source of divinity, as well as their mobility and vocal proficiency, birds also tend to be viewed as communicators of arcane knowledge. They can be good or bad omens, advisors of the great and pious, and even tattlers on the unfaithful. The word augury literally means "bird talking," and auspices means "bird viewing"; thus an auspicious enterprise is one for which the birds have indicated a favorable future. Also, because of their flight, we tend to associate birds with freedom. Freedom can be represented by rulers as a dangerous-even perilous-thing, but in our own culture it is sweet liberty to be "free as a bird." Likewise, the caged bird is regularly a symbol of either loving protection or (much more commonly today) cruel confinement. The ways in which bird symbols have infused cultures are as various as the birds themselves. Following are four brief examples from research performed in recent decades.

Birds as Omens for the Nage of The Nage people of the island of , in Indonesia, recognize seventy-nine kinds of birds, fifty-five of which have symbolic value. The most striking example, and appar­ ently most important to the Nage, is represented by the concept po, which is associated with malevolent spirits. Po as a noun refers mainly to any owl, but there are other birds, - ·-' • ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HUMAN- RELATIONSHIPS

such as dlUrna· Irap tors, that can po--or' that can make a sound that reveals the bird to be indwelled by an evil spirit. These birds are the central membe~s of a. bro~der category of "witch birds" (polo) that includes any flesh-eating or sca:engmg bud, mcluding the crow and the Wallacean (Dicrurus densus). These, m turn, are a subset of the category of "spiritual birds," whose other main category besides polo is mae, birds that are associated with the souls of dead people. Among these, the black-faced cuckoo­ shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae) makes a call that is considered to be a dead person summoning a relative (and is often seen as portentous). The only spiritual bird that is not ominous is the bare-throated whistler (Pachycephala nudigula), because it is the embodiment of the harmless dead: those who have died in infancy or who were aborted as fetuses. Finally, there are a few ominous birds that are nevertheless not associated with an evil spirit or dead soul. There is no spiritual category for the Nage that is not associated with some sort of bird. The primarily negative connotation of their symbolism is remarkable. As one resident told a researcher: "Many birds provide signs, and many of these are bad signs."

Bird Killing and Display as a Rite of Passage for the Maasai of Kenya Maasai youths kill, stuff, and mount small, colorful birds on hats for competitive display, symbolically resurrecting them. This practice is probably unique in Africa. Given the Maasai's exclusion of birds from their diet, and their consideration of birds as links between humans and the divine, this rite of passage might seem difficult to reconcile. The Maasai place birds into two broad, spiritual categories. The first is comprised of birds of character, which are either auspicious or inauspicious; these, they do not kill. The other category includes anonymous birds that are considered decorative, and these they do kill. Only the woodpecker is a bird revered yet decorative. An apparent exception is the ostrich, whose plumes are second only to the lion's mane as the most prized decoration for a warrior; but, in fact, the Maasai consider the ostrich to be a mammal posing as a bird.

Cranes as a SUbject of Art in Neolithic Anatolia Cranes are represented more than any other bird in Neolithic (c. 7000-6000 BCE) Turkey. Bones have been found in midden heaps, indicating that they were killed and eaten by people. Wings with feathers attached have also been found, suggesting that here, as elsewhere, there was a "crane dance," an attempt to imitate this bird's beautiful courtship ritual. According to this evidence and the uses of cranes in paintings, the ancient Anatolians probably shared many other cultures' association of this bird with life and rebirth, possibly in opposition to the vulture as the symbol of death. The importance of cranes in human culture is likely due to their similarities to humans: their height, their long lifespan, their monogamous social system, their commonality and gregariousness, and, perhaps most importantly, the fact that theydance.

Bird Images as Indications of Character and Spirituality in Medieval Christian Art Jerome was an early Christian father of the church, known especially for his trans­ lation of the Bible into Latin and his penitential stay in the wilderness, where he reported being accompanied daily by . Over 1,000 artistic representations of CULTURE, RELIGION, AND BELIEF SYSTEMS •

Jerome depi~t animals ~n them-including thirty-three identifiable kinds of birds. In most case, nch symbohc meanings have been deciphered. One example is SaintJerome in Hi Study by Lucas Cranach the Elder, painted in 1526. This painting contains three birds, along with five mammals. The African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus) that watches Jerome translate is the best avian talker, and thus is a frequent symbol of words, such as those spoken by an angel to Mary, announcing her motherhood ofjesus. Here, the parrot draws attention to Jerome's translating work, and perhaps even sug­ gests divine help in the process. A pair of pheasants with young was a common repre­ sentation of God's providence, not only because of the parental care depicted, but also because of a Teutonic Pleiades legend. Jesus, upon being given a loaf of bread by a woman and her daughters, set them in the ky as stars for their charity. The Pleiades were commonly depicted as a hen and chicks in Christian art. The pair of gray par­ tridges (Perdix cinerea) are peculiar here because they were considered to be satanic creatures-including by Jerome himself-due to an old belief that the bird was over­ sexed and an egg-stealer to boot. Partridges were not wholly evil by the time of the painting, however, thanks to Leonardo da Vinci, who proposed that they could sym­ bolize the eventual triumph of truth, because the chicks hatching from stolen eggs go back to their real mother (or so he thought). Taking the floor scene together, the lion, which symbolizes Christ, is keeping watch over the provision of the Bible to the people, symbolized by the pheasants. Part of this divine vigilance involves keep­ ing away the evil partridges, what­ ever they might be-heresies, or else whatever sins Jerome sought to purge by his wilderness experience. Thus, the birds in this painting illus­ trate the spiritual significance and drama underlying Jerome's work. Table 1 provides a taste of some of the frequently cited symbolic uses of birds. Distinct conceptions are separated by semicolons. Most of the representations originated in the civilizations of China, India, the Near East, and Europe (thus the birds are Eurasian). Sometimes, the symbolic values for a given species are wide­ spread, because they are an imagina~ive extension of a feature of the bIrd; others stem from an interaction between the bird and the local geogra­ phy or culture, and are thus parochial or idiosyncratic. Bird symbols are ubiquitous in politiCS and popular culture but the table focuses on moral Saint Jerome in His Study, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, and rel~gious symbolisms, which are, painted in 1526. ©Sarasota, FL: John and Mable arguably, the roots from which Ringling Museum of Art. •m Table 1. Birds Commonly Associated Symbolically with Concepts and Religious Figures Z Associated Deities ~ Bird and Saints Symbolic Values 5 "'tI mo albatross Good fortune (esp. at sea) >

o"T1 bittern Desolation, impending calamity ::I: C blackbird (European) Poet, lover, song; solitariness; death; sensual passion 3: >z bunting Vitality in winter (snow bunting); humble status »z buzzard Laziness, clumsiness, idiocy, lasciviousness ~

>~ chicken: cock/rooster Hermes/Mercury; St. Peter Light, healing, resurrection; vigilance, overbearing insolence; pluckiness, ;:c m priggishness (the Bantam); male sexuality, salaciousness ~ chicken: hen Christian God or Church; St. Pharaildis Maternal love, protection, fecundity, health, domesticity o Z en chough Detection of marital infidelity, marriage; thievery, lasciviousness ::I: ~ coot Intelligence, prudence; baldness cormorant Voracious appetite, insatiability crane Sun, dance; longevity, happiness, enlightenment, vigilance, foresight crow Apollo; St. Vincent Contention, discord, strife; evil; longevity cuckoo Indra (India) Cuckoldry, avarice, jealousy; foolishness dove Yama (India); AphroditeNenus; Jehovah, Noah, Fertility, soul; faithfulness; peace, love, innocence, harmlessness, sorrow Holy Spirit; Sts. Ambrose, Basil, Bridget of Sweden, Catherine, Catherine of Siena, Cunibert, David, Dunstan, Gregory the Great, Hilary of Aries, John Columbini, Lo, Louis,

J Medard, Oswald, Peter of Alcantara, Peter Celestin, Sampson, Thomas Aquinas duck Happiness, faithful married love; deceit eagle Zeus/Jupiter; Jesus Christ; Vishnu (India); Odin Divinity, majesty, inspiration (Norse); supreme being, sky or sun spirit (many Near Eastern and New World aboriginal cultures); Sts. Augustine, Gregory the Great, John the Evangelist, Prisca falcon/hawk Horus, Montu, Sokar (Egypt); Sts. Bavo, Nobility, victory; rapacity Edward, Julian Hospitator, Otto (on cottage) gallinule, purple Chastity goldfinch Mary and infant Jesus Soul, salvation, light; fertility, sexual pleasure goose Ra, Geb (Egypt); Brahma (India); Ortiki (Siberia); Soul, sun; vigilance; sexual union; conceit, folly, old age

St. Martin, Pharaildis (gosling) () c gull Soul; gullibility !:j C ::0 heron Ra, Osiris (Egypt); Cowardice; wisdom ,!TI ::0m hoopoe Gratitude, filial piety; filth C (j) ibis Thoth (Egypt); Hermes/Mercury; Heart; morning o z jackdaw Thieving, hoarding; vain assumption, empty conceit z> jay Senseless chatter o ttl m C kestrel Baseness; low social class m "'T'l kingfisher (halcyon) Tethys Dawn, calm seas, respite; magnanimity kite ~ Devil Ruthlessness, rapacity, thievery ~ •(I) (Continues) -= - -.... -, •.~,= ...... ~

,~"

•m Table 1. (Continued) Z () Associated Deities ~ Bird and Saints Symbolic Values 5 -- "mo lapwing Insincerity, treachery, deceit » o "T1 lark Soul, joy, gratitude, day, the awakening of lovers ::I: C magpie Garrulity, verbosity, pilfering; struggle between good and evil 3:» z nightingale Love, sexual emotions; heartbreak, grief; contentiousness »z ostrich Ma'at (Egypt) Endurance; negligence, stupidity ~ »r- owl Pallas Athene/Minerva Wisdom (little owl); death, doom, evil ;:0 m parrot Kama (India) Mocking verbosity; love; poetry ~ o partridge Lust, excessive fecundity; trickery Z en peacock Hera/Juno Pride, vainglory; immortality ::I: ~ pelican Jesus Christ Maternal selfless love pheasant Authority; redemption, security; pleasure pigeon Cowardice, stupidity quail Reproduction; cowardice

raven Elijah; Odin (Norse); Sts. Benedict, Erasmus, Prophecy, ill-luck; longevity; slaughter, death and Paul the Hermit (bringing food), Ida and Oswald (with ring in beak)

robin (European) Confiding trust, charity, Christmas sparrow AphroditeNenus Lasciviousness; mankind • , starling Lechery, garrulousness stork Procreation; loyalty, filial piety swallow (barn) Spring, resurrection; gracefulness; omen of catastrophe; female Sexuality; maternal care despite poverty swan AphroditeNenus; Sts. Cuthbert, Hugh of Music, grace, serenity, innocence Grenoble, Kentigern thrush Melody, song tit Fertility; gossip, carelessness turkey Official insolence turtle-dove St. Mary Magdalene Marital fidelity vulture Nekhbet, Mut (Egypt); Ares/Mars Rapine, filth, voraciousness, death; maternity, purity; penalty for sensuality

() wall creeper Mary (esp. regarding Jesus) Impending death c !:4 c woodpecker Ares/Mars Divination ;:c m wren Smallness, energy, triumph by cleverness ;:c m r- (i) o z >z o c::Jm c: m "T1 en ~ s= en• !l

.:i. •

• ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS

popular and political symbols usually derive their sense. For instance, Our calling a foolish person "cuckoo" descends from an old view that by laying her eggs in other nests, a female cuckoo was somehow being unfaithful to her mate; thus a man foolish enough to be married to such a woman is known as a cuckold. Likewise, the near­ ubiquitous association of the eagle with majesty and might can be extended to explain its use as a symbol for Rome, Christ, the United States, and probably even football teams and rock bands.

Further Resources Forth, G. (2004). Nage birds: Classification and symbolism among an eastern Indonesian people. New York: Routledge. Friedmann, H. (1980). A bestiary for Saint Jerome: Animal symbolism in European religious art. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Galaty, J. G. (1998). The Maasai ornithorium: Tropic £lights of avian imagination in Africa. Eth­ nology, 37, 227-35. Lawrence, E. A. (1997). Hunting the wren: Transformation ofbird to symbol. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Rowland, B. (1978). Birds with human souls: A guide to bird symbolism. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Russell, N., &: McGowan, K. J. (2003). Dance of the cranes: Crane symbolism at CatalhoyiIk and beyond. Antiquity, 77,445-55. Willis, R. (1994). Signifying animals. New York: Routledge.

David C. Lahti

II Culture, Religion, and Belief Systems Blessing of the Animals Rituals

It is unclear when Blessing of the Animals rituals first occurred in the Christian tradition, though most likely they reflect a conflated Christian-pagan practice. Certainly as the roles of animals in human culture shift, so do the purposes of animal blessings. By the early twenty-first century, Blessing of Animals rituals in Western Christianity focused on domestic, companion species (dogs and cats in particular), whereas earlier blessings seem to have incorporated work and agricultural animals, such as mules, oxen, and horses. The earliest evidence is visual, including images of Saint Anthony Abbot (a fourth-century Christian holy man) blessing animals along with poor or inflicted humans. Anthony Abbot, whose feast day is onJanuary 17, is the patron saint of animals. This mid-January blessing ritual, in recognition of his feast day, occurred into the ea.rlY twentieth-century in cities such as Rome. Reports indicate that humans brought a Wlde range of animals to the steps in front of Catholic churches throughout the city fo~ t~e blessing. Written reports, along with images from as early as the fifteenth century, tnd.t­ hc cate a tradition of animal blessings connected to the saint. It is also possible that Catho