Pigeon - The Symbol of PEACE

Today I went to visit my mother‘s high school. My mom is a literature teacher! I think that I have mentioned her in many of my articles during my trip to the South of Spain, as I have visited the giant windmills of Don Quijote in Consuegra, Toledo as well as I have visited Federico García Lorca ‘s summer house in Granada.

As a literature teacher, my mom has to teach foreign literature, in this case many works from Europe.

Today when I visited her highschool, I realized something that I should have known about much earlier – the pigeons – the symbol of Peace. For a long time, I have known that pigeon is the symbol of peace, even the logo of my mom's high school is also a Peace Pigeon.

The Peace Pigeon is the logo of my mom's high school!

Honestly, I have to admit that I have never before known why we have a pigeon as the symbol of peace, and that is the main reason for me to write down this article.

I already have some knowledge about the symbol of peace, kind of fragments. Thus, I would like to organize these fragments in one article. Moreover, I feel very lucky right now, as I have discovered one main reason for making peace pigeon famous worldwide.

I will tell you!

It is the special link between Pigeon and Pablo Picasso, the greatest artist of Spain. So in this artice, I will tell you four main contents making pigeon become the peace symbol.

At first, I would like to tell you about the legend of pigeons and the symbol of Peace.

The legend of pigeons and the symbol of peace

For me, the pigeon is a kind of poultry, but more than a bird, it carries many symbols: early in the morning, when the sun rises, the wings of doves fly in the air, to a very quiet day.

In Vietnam nowadays, we consider the pigeon is a symbol of peace although there are no many pigeons free flying in Vietnam. For us, whenever we see pictures of pair of pigeons using a trimming feather for each other with a look of affection, brood lovers for children... evoke a married life and that is the symbol of the family happiness.

I was surprised to know that there is a strange thing in the two largest suttas of humanity: the Bible and the Buddhist sutra have stories about this precious bird.

This is the story of the pigeon in the Bible

So first, I would like to tell a little bit about the Bible, there is this passage: "Jehova created man Adam, then Adam's rib made women-Eva, from which their offspring flourished and worked, living very flourishing.

But the human race produces greedy, do not think about labor, so new deception, corruption and violence arise, the moral foundation of humanity began to ruin. God is angry, and he decided to use flood to destroy the world.

Adam's ninth son Noah, a patriarch of the Hebrew clan, was a very loyal servant of God. He advocates full justice, the deep hatred of evil in humankind. God only loves this person so he will not let him die. One day God told Noah that the ground was about to happen, Noah had to immediately make a square boat with three floors to avoid accidents. Noah obeys the command of God, finished the square boat, bringing everyone in the family with cattle and poultry in the house put on the boat...

The battle lasted 150 days, flooded all the mountains and houses, killing all human beings, only the Noe family is save. When the water is about to withdraw, Noah decides to release the pigeon for scouting, but the bird just rolls around and then flew back. Noah knows that all over the place is still water, so the bird has nowhere to park. A few days later, Noah dropped the pigeon. As the pigeon returned, the beak was blue, and Noah saw it with great pleasure, as he understood that the flood had drained, revealing the young branches emerging from the water, so he Bring all the families back to the mainland, and start building a new life. "

The story of the pigeon and the branch, of the foreshadowing of a peaceful life told by the Bible is spread throughout the world. In the 30s of the seventeenth century, in Europe a war that lasted more than 30 years erupted, causing Europe, especially the German people, to sink. At that time, in some cities in Germany, a peculiar souvenir was circulated, depicting the dove holding a branch, reflecting the aspirations for the peace of the people, so the pigeon sentences and branches represent peace.

After World War II, the great artist Picasso painted a flying white dove, and sent it to the World Peace Congress, who called the dove a peaceful pigeon.

Homing pigeons:

I know that pigeons have also responded to human sacrifices from ancient times. It is a miracle of creation: pigeon delivery. For example, in the history of Vietnam, I have known the story of pigeons crossing thousands of miles to deliver letters, like General Tran Nguyen Han at the Le Loi time against the Minh dynasty who used pigeons to pass through the strict circumference of the enemy. European renaissance through film using pigeon delivery is common. In many countries, pigeons fly over squares, parks and cathedrals for fetters, but there are still many countries that are "abusive" to this marvelous bird in restaurants ("dove rotating, pigeon herbs... ").

Recently, I reread the news in Tuoi Tre Newspaper, it is amazing and amusing to know that there is a 410 km race of pigeons from Binh Dinh to Ho Chi Minh City. HCM: "... Saigon afternoon train, 42 pigeons are carefully locked into the cage, the cage lock is also sealed, and follow the S6 train running all night to Dieu Tri station when it was just light. At the station of the central town of Tuy Phuoc district (Binh Dinh). The pigeons will begin their journey through the southern central and southeastern regions to find the home of the landlords in Ho Chi Minh City. (... ) At 15:15 pm 18/12, the "empty gray racer" (... ) came home after 8 hours 55 minutes to conquer the 410 km route. (... ) In the afternoon of December 18th, there were two doves on the nest. The pigeons are left by darkness and spend the night somewhere along the road and in the next morning they all fly home safely. "

In order to carry out this race, the owner of the dove gave pigeons the chance to test their distance and to train their ability to remember their way home. For pigeons to deliver mail, people tie the letter to their feet at the point of departure, transporting them to the mail. That action repeated many times, pigeons will remember the route. Where do the pigeons have the magic ability? It was explained about the ability of the "mail" pigeon, so that thanks to the sense smell, thanks to magnetic particles in the mine, so it has a "compass positioning"... In general, any explanation is not complete, and perhaps we are just content with the answer to the miraculous power of the dove.

I am playing with pigeons in Plaza de Cataluña, Barcelona

I think the message of dove is not just about peace between humans, but respect for nature, respect for the lives of beings, love of plants, birds and creatures. Loving birds, passionately singing, is not about making their own birds to beautify their home, to sing for their own listening in captivity, but to love birds, to love the song, is to respect freedom, is like high heaven sea wide. Love peace, love freedom, and peace with freedom.

If I say that Pablo Picasso is the greatest artist of the twentieth century, it is not at all wrong. His silhouette covered the painting of that century. He was also the father of the most famous painting schools of that time.

For example, if I search on the Internet, Picasso is also the most searched artist. The number of Picasso's works left vast, varied, of every subject, in all materials and in many ways.

He was also a resilient warrior against all forms of cruelty and violence against humanity. Let's see him draw pigeons, with a natural and liberal pen strokes. Each bird has its own vivid image along with purity and beauty. Picasso has sent all souls and aspirations for freedom, aspirations for peace and tolerance towards humans in every bird.

Picasso's peaceful pigeons have contributed to the awakening of loving peace, love for beauty around the world.

Then, as I said before the peaceful voice of Picasso's pigeons has become world-famous. It is a symbol of the peace movement, the Communist Party, and the liberal movement. Years later, the famous artist agreed to use the pigeon image in his work as a symbol of the peace of the conference across Europe.

Picasso's pigeon image was used at the World Congress for Peace in Paris in 1949, the World Congress for Peace in Vienne, the World Congress for Peace in Moscow.

Source

Nowadays, the pigeon image as a modern peace symbol has changed a lot from the original Picasso standard in 1949. Pigeons are often depicted in a free-flowing posture, olives in the wings, beak and pair in the legs.

However, I still think that the great work of spreading the symbol of peace in the image of the pigeon belongs to Picasso and this significant fact deserves to be remembered beside the glorious fortune of the leading figure in the painting of the 20th century.

By the way, I love peace and the big fat harmless pigeon!