The dove is often considered a holy bird in many cultures and religions around the world. Doves have long been used as symbols of peace, love, fidelity, hope, and more. Their white color has associated them with purity and divinity. Various myths and religious stories feature doves, cementing their spiritual symbolism. While not all view the dove as sacred, it has undeniably become an iconic religious bird.
Doves in Christianity
In Christianity, the dove is one of the most ubiquitous symbols of the faith. The dove often represents the Holy Spirit, one part of the Holy Trinity along with God the Father and Jesus Christ. There are several examples of doves serving as symbols in Christianity:
- During the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove. This affirmed Jesus as the Son of God.
- Noah releases a dove from the ark after the Great Flood to search for dry land. It returned with an olive branch, signaling land was near and God’s forgiveness.
- Doves appear in manger scenes celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
- A dove may be used in artistic depictions of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary to tell her she will give birth to the son of God.
- The dove is a popular symbol for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
- Images of a dove and olive branch have come to represent hope, renewal, reconciliation, and peace in the Christian story.
Overall, the dove serves as a visual image reinforcing major themes in Christianity like the Holy Spirit, baptism, innocence, sacrifice, and peace. Its pure white color has long associated it with the light of God and virtue. While not all Christian denominations use the dove as a symbol, it has strong scriptural and artistic significance in the faith.
Doves in Judaism
In Judaism, doves were among the birds suitable for sacrifice, as stated in the Torah. Doves were an affordable option for those who could not provide bigger animal sacrifices. The Talmud notes a symbolic difference between sacrificial doves used in various rituals:
- Torah sacrifices – Doves represent innocence and purity. They were offered after events like childbirth or during cleansing rituals.
- Atonement sacrifices – Doves represent fidelity, because they mate for life. They were used as sacrifices to reconcile sins.
Doves were also featured in the story of Noah’s ark, a significant event for both Christianity and Judaism. When Noah releases a dove to search for dry land, it showed humanity’s redemption after the flood. Jewish art and literature continues using doves to represent hope, renewal, sacrifice, and God’s forgiveness. Overall, doves carry strong spiritual symbolism in Jewish culture as humbly pure and faithful creatures.
Doves in Islam
Doves also take on sacred meaning in Islam. The major associations are:
- A pair of doves represented marital fidelity and true love between a husband and wife.
- Eating dove meat was considered “lawful” in the Quran, so doves were used as a pure food source.
- The poet Rumi uses doves in his writing as a symbol of soul, spirit, and divine love.
- A dove appears in the story of Muhammad’s mystical night journey, representing his peaceful character.
Like in Christianity and Judaism, the dove was a symbol of purity, gentleness, fidelity, and many other virtuous qualities. Their mournful cooing also gave them an association with grief and lamentation in Islamic literature.
Doves in Hinduism and Buddhism
Hindu and Buddhist iconography includes dove motifs. For example:
- Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and learning has a dove as one of her animal companions.
- Kamadeva, the Hindu god of desire, rides a dove. Doves represented purity and spiritual love in contrast to carnal love.
- Doves appear in Jataka tales about the Buddha’s former lives and on ancient Buddhist temple reliefs.
Again, the dove embodies virtues like wisdom, fidelity, purity, and peace in Hinduism and Buddhism. The cooing of doves also evoked spiritual contemplation in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.
Doves in Ancient Mythology
Doves feature prominently in myths from the ancient Mediterranean world:
- Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, was frequently associated with doves. They pulled her chariot and symbolized romance.
- In Roman myth, Venus’s (Aphrodite’s Roman equivalent) sacred animal was the dove. Virgil describes a dove with iridescent plumage perched on a myrtle tree as a symbol of Venus.
- Doves were sacrificed to the Greek goddess Hera to symbolize her marital fidelity to Zeus.
- Artemis took the form of a dove when acting as an oracle or intermediary between humans and the gods.
- The Roman god Mars had a dove as one of his sacred animals representing innocence, purity and peace.
For these ancient cultures, the dove was a messenger between realms and an earthly representative of divine powers. Their white plumage and gentle nature made them the perfect vehicle for gods associated with love, fertility, and war.
Spiritual Purity
Across cultures, the dove’s pure white coloring has given it an association with light and higher spiritual purification. Doves were symbols of:
- Virginity and chastity
- Innocence
- Divine spirit and soul
- Removing oneself from earthly, mundane things
White doves also appear after momentous spiritual events, like the baptism or birth of religious figures. Overall, whiteness and doves seem strongly linked as representations of the divine untainted by the impurities of material life. The dove transcends the mundane world.
Peace
Doves universally represent peace, pacifism, and avoidance of conflict. Specific associations include:
- An olive branch in the dove’s mouth has become an iconic image of peace.
- Doves symbolized the end of conflict or transition to more harmonious relationships, like between humanity and God.
- In politics, the dove was used as a pacifist symbol and anti-war icon.
- Picasso’s 1949 lithograph, La Colombe, depicted a dove with an olive branch to protest war and seek reconciliation.
- The onset of more peaceful eras was represented by images of doves returning or proliferating.
Due to their gentle nature, doves encapsulate human ideals of brotherly love, cooperation, and quiet resilience. The dove reassures us we can transcend violence, anger, and hatred.
Fidelity
Doves are perceived as loyal birds and symbols of fidelity because:
- They mate monogamously for life.
- Both sexes share parenting duties equally.
- Their mournful coos expressed suffering in separation and grief at a mate’s death.
Thus, doves represent the ideal marital relationship of endless love, partnership, and mourning at separation. In myths and rituals, they honored bonds deemed sacred and unbreakable.
Mourning
The dove’s anguished cry gave it an association with mourning, loss, and grief. Examples include:
- In the Bible, doves mimic the plaintive cry of suffering humans.
- Doves were released at funerals in ancient Rome.
- Noah’s dove crying from the ark represented lamentation for humanity’s sins.
- Dove imagery consoles the bereaved that their loved one has ascended to a peaceful afterlife.
The mournful cooing essentially represents the bereaved soul crying out in pain after losing something precious. Doves acknowledge grief while also providing solace and hope.
Messenger
The dove is portrayed as a messenger in myths, fables, and religion. Examples:
- Noah’s dove brings back an olive branch, delivering hope to Noah.
- In Greek myth, doves carried ambrosia from heaven to the gods.
- Aphrodite’s doves delivered love notes between lovers.
- Christianity believed the Holy Spirit delivered messages and wisdom to Jesus Christ.
The dove is thus a messenger between realms, carrying blessings, comfort, and divine communion between heaven, earth, and humanity. Its flight indicates something transcending mundane boundaries.
Symbolic Meaning in Cultural Tradition
Doves appear symbolically in legends, proverbs, and tradition:
- Jewish legend claims Noah’s dove was rewarded for refusing to abandon him, turned white from the sun, and granted a beautiful cooing song.
- Christian legend says the dove’s mournful cry gained it red eyes from weeping for Jesus’ suffering.
- In China, a dove’s virtue rewarded it with a permanent place close to the gods, while other birds were cursed to flee in fear.
- “The feathers of innocents are used to feather the nests of doves” means evil exploits the pure and good.
These stories cement the dove’s virtue and sacredness. They affirm that dove symbolism has deep roots across cultures as a sign of purity, innocence, goodness, and God’s blessing.
Conclusion
The dove is unequivocally a holy and sacred bird in most cultures. Beginning in ancient Mesopotamian and Mediterranean societies, the dove was portrayed as a symbol of love, fertility, chastity, and God/the gods. In the three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the dove remains an iconic symbol of spiritual purity, fidelity, sacrifice, peace, and God’s grace. The dove also attained spiritual symbolism in Hinduism and Buddhism.
The dove’s pure white color, gentle nature, faithful mating habits, mournful song, and ability to transcend earthly boundaries has made it the quintessential sacred bird. Its importance endured for millennia because the dove embodies so many human ideals of virtue, love, peace, spirit, and nonviolence. Across distant cultures and eras, the dove became the bird that carried divine blessing from heaven to humanity. For these reasons, the dove is considered a holy, blessed creature by cultures and faiths worldwide.