Contrast between some beautiful photos and the perceptions. Ever imagined this beautiful bird could also be synonymous with Death, Vanity and Sin?
What feelings does this beautiful click of the peacock silhouetted at sunset bring to your mind?
Beauty at sunset
My own click
I saw this fully grown Peacock with almost 5 feet long tail feathers climb up on the culvert wall and felt nothing but a sense of being overwhelmed by beauty. The creator has spent some serious time on the design on this species, I thought and clicked a few snaps.
Today, most of us gaze upon a peacock and probably feel the same way but throughout history, perceptions have been differing in different parts of the world as I highlighted in my previous post
Today, let us look at some more perceptions.
Harbingers of death and bad luck?
Apparently, according to the 15th century Swiss physician Paracelsus, if a peacock cries more than usual or at odd times, it indicates an upcoming death in the family!
The peacocks cry does sound a bit melancholy. We can hear a sample at the following link https://xeno-canto.org/567971/download
However, it does not really mean it foretells death !!
It was also believed historically that the peacocks cry predicted wet weather, which, in olden day was often seen as bad because of various diseases that erupted during wet weather.
Peacocks or their feathers were also believed to be unlucky for unmarried ladies and for theater...
Just look at this majestic bird once again in the click below. Do we really think this beauty can be so bad?
Can this beauty bring bad luck?🙄
My own click
I, for one, do not believe in such superstitions at all. Peacocks cry near my house all the time. There are also many houses nearby and I am sure those residents hear them too. If the superstition were to be true, we would have deaths daily in our part of the town!! LOL
There are further misconceptions and biases about the peacock.
Peacocks synonymous with the sin of vanity?
The great beauty of peacocks, coupled with the fact of their strutting around displaying it(by spreading their tail feathers and dancing), leads people to believe that they are Pride and Vanity incarnate.
For example, they are often found depicted as Pride in Seven Deadly Sins in Renaissance art. An example is below:
Peacock depicted as Sin of Pride
Image Source
It is true that the peacock does strut but that is part of it's ritual for mating. It has to display it's best qualities for attracting a mate. This behavior is seen in many birds. Why only blame the Peacock?
Perhaps because it looks SPECTACULAR when it opens it's tail feathers in a fan. It is very noticeable compared to a lot of other species. Thus, it also gets blamed I guess!
I got lucky once and could catch the Peacock dancing with it's tail feathers in a lovely fan.
Is this Vanity/Pride or just a normal biological mating ritual?
My own click
Irrespective of what people used to believe, I still prefer to see this grand display of the Peacock dancing. I can not describe in words the awe and joy it brings to see a peacock dancing.
I hope you all have that good fortune to see one. If not, I hope you have at least enjoyed seeing the Peacock's beauty through my lens.
Finally - here is the original photograph in it's full form:
Silhouetted beauty
MY own click
Information about the bird
Since I have already covered species information in my previous post, I am not repeating here. I request you to refer to that post.
Information about photograph
- Aperture: F5.6
- ISO: 640
- Shutter: 1/3200
- Support: Handheld shot
- Camera: Nikon D500
- Lens: Nikkor 200-500mm
- Image format: Photo clicked in RAW and edited for presentation sizing
A big thank you for support
Thanks to c/hive-106444 (Feathered friends community) for providing this wonderful opportunity to present my experience and photographs. Thanks to @barbara-orenya and @melinda010100 for all the support and encouragement to this community. Special thanks to @nelinoeva also for starting the Species hunt initiative. My posts are not exactly in that format but have all the necessary info and Good original Photos. Further guidance will be very much welcome.
Thanks to HIVE for this wonderful platform. Thanks also to @adalger and @dna.org for encouraging me by recognizing some of my posts as worthy of Densifying nature project.
Further, thanks to Amazing nature community @hive-127788 for welcoming me and showing me their love on some of my posts.
Note: All images and collages in this post are created by me, based on photos clicked by me personally and/or free vector images from Pixabay. Other sources if any are mentioned below each image.
Quotes used, if not credited, are either from unknown authors or are proverbial old sayings.
