Why the Dove is the Bird of Peace

Why the Dove is the Bird of Peace

by Orion

Once upon a time, so an Azerbaijani legend says, there were two kingdoms in Central Asia led by two kings who hated each other. For many years their enmity grew, and their armies and armories grew, and the threat of war seemed an ever-greater likelihood. One day, something happened that no one now remembers, but this forgotten event caused the hatred between the two kings to erupt and war was declared, one upon the other.

As the kings arrayed themselves for battle, one of them called for his armor and helmet, shield and spear. The king’s men-at-arms and servants went to retrieve the helmet and armor, shield and spear, but when they returned, they did not have the king’s battle gear with them.

The king demanded to know why they had disobeyed his order. None of the servants spoke until the king’s own mother stepped forward and said “I commanded them to leave your helmet and armor undisturbed.”

“For what reason do you dare to block my command?” asked the king.

His mother said, “I will show you a secret, wonderful thing, the thing that has made me defy your order.”

She took him to the royal armory where the helmet and armor, shield and spear were kept. “Behold!” said the mother of the king, and motioned to the helmet. And there within, a dove had built her nest, and there the dove sat, trembling in fright, protecting her newborn chicks.

The king, the great leader and warrior, was touched by the simple sight of a creature so small and beautiful, willing to risk everything to protect her small brood. He decided to risk his own life by entering the battle without his helmet and armor, and let the dove remain at peace on her nest.

“Perhaps,” he said, “if I foster and protect this small dove, the gods and goddesses will shelter and protect me in battle” And forth he went.

When battle was met, the opposing army rushed forth, their king at the head of his troops. He strode forth to meet his rival hand-to-hand, but stopped when he saw the other king standing before him without helmet or armor. This second king was surprised, but also secretly afeared — was this king so powerful as to need no armor? Had he enchantments of special favor of the gods and goddesses that he dared enter battle without a helmet?

So the second king called halt to his army, and shouted across the field “Why do you come for battle without aid of helmet or armor?”

“Come forth to parlay and I will tell you,” the first king replied. So both kings laid their weapons down and strode forth to talk. And the first king told the second of the dove nesting in his helmet, and how he had been so moved by the bravery of this small bird and the love that she bore her nestlings that he had left her undisturbed.

Now the second king had always believed his rival to be a great tyrant, with only cruelty and greed in his heart. And yet here was his bitter rival risking his life and kingdom for the benefit of one small dove. So moved was the second king that he laid aside his own armor and helmet, and sought peace between the kingdoms rather than war. And in this way, the dove became known throughout the land as a bird of peace.

This story may be an ancient one, but it is one of the many myths from many cultures that revere the dove as a symbol of peace, and it is still taught to children in Azerbaijan. For many thousands of years, in places utterly different in geography and culture, the dove emerges again and again as the symbol of peace, love and the representation of the divine.

Most of us are familiar with the ancient Sumerian and Hebrew myth of the great flood and the building of an ark to save the animals from the divine wrath that caused the flood. In the most ancient accounts, adapted later by the early Christian church and persisting to this day, it is the dove that brings the news that the flood is over. She returns to the ark with an olive branch in her beak, signifying peace between the beings of the Earth and the divine.

Aphrodite, ancient and lovely, is borne in her chariot drawn by doves, and has often been depicted with doves because She brings love and beauty and peace in which to enjoy the bounties of love. Aphrodite’s daughters, the Pleiades — the Seven Sisters in the night sky– were also known in Greece as “a flock of doves.”

Thousands of years later, Christians adopted the dove as the symbol of the “Holy Spirit.” Artists have often painted doves flocking about Jesus, drawing from the many Biblical associations of the dove with the presence of God. In the New Testament, Mary is told of her conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. The four main gospels of the New Testament describe the baptism of Jesus when “the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove” came down from the heavens.

Islam too, holds the dove sacred as a representation of the divine. It is told that a dove flew from Mohammed’s ear, convincing those who heard him that his message came directly from the Divine.

It is not only in Near-Eastern and European cultures that we find the image of the dove associated with peace, love and divine presence. The Aztec Goddess Xochiquetzal is, in part, a goddess of love and she becomes the mother of humanity after the great flood in Aztec mythology. It is She who gives the gift of speech to humans, descending on humankind in the form of a dove to create the languages of the world.

In some northern American indigenous cultures, the spirits of the dead take the form of a dove immediately after departing the body. Dove feathers are sometimes incorporated into prayer sticks as a means of connecting with the guidance of the spirits.

In India and South Asia, Kamadeva, the Hindu god of love, is depicted armed with a quiver of flowers and riding on a dove. Again, the dove becomes the symbol of divinity, love and peace.

It is 2002 in the United States, and we are again on the brink of war. Of what significance is the dove to us, as pagans, as Americans, as warriors or as pacifists? Perhaps it is the very universal nature of the dove that we must heed — the presence of this gentle bird in cultures across the span of time, culture, and geography, always representing love, peace and presence of the god and goddess.

If the dove could halt a war and bring peace between bitter enemies an eon ago in Azerbaijan, perhaps it is not too late in our own time and place. Can we bring the gifts of the dove into our circles, into our hearts, and find divine insights into the protracted violence of the modern world? Can this bird, a symbol of peace and divinity common to Judaism, Christianity and Islam provide guidance to us to bring peace within and between those religions?

As pagans, we take responsibility for our own personal reality. We work for the greatest and highest good. Too often our vision is clouded, our spirits muddled with fear, anger, or confusion. It is not a simple world we live in, and commonality becomes elusive as society becomes fractious. But perhaps if we focus on the dove — whose wing-beats resonate peace throughout the cultures of the world — she will show us what the greatest and highest good can be.