Tuesday, April 5, 2011

All about roosters

I have a thing about roosters--for me they symbolize all things country.

Symbolically, roosters have a long history in world cultures: the ancient Greeks believed the rooster, with its hearty morning "cock-a-doodle-do," was a sign of victory over night. In Christianity, since a rooster crowed three times after the apostle Peter denied Christ, it became a symbol of his passion and resurrection. And even now a rooster on a weathervane (something we're looking forward to having one day, hopefully a nice big copper one) symbolizes a watchful vigilance over evil.


Going around my house I have roosters and rooster themes everywhere--on rugs, vases, salt and pepper shakers, plates, paintings, and wooden rooster carvings, which I'm fond of collecting:














Roosters are also one of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, a symbol of honesty and fortitude, representing good fortune, fidelity, and protection. In Japan, roosters are considered sacred symbols and allowed to run free among the Shinto temples.

In Celtic and Nordic cultures the rooster is a sign of the underworld, giving warnings of danger and crying out for the souls fallen in battle.

There's also a wealth of dream symbolism, such as the sign of time passing. Some say that if you hear a rooster crow in your dream, it might mean that you need a wake-up call or should pay attention to something that's going on in your life. The meanings go on and on.

But, as you can see from my pictures, I have a plenitude of roosters--some would say a collecting fetish. I still can't resist buying them, however, and recently I came across a really great rooster pillow that crowed "Take me home with you!" So I did.

Trouble is, we also have a pillow fetish going on at our house (I'll spare you those pictures for now) and there's no room for this pretty little guy. So he's up for sale as of yesterday on my Etsy shop Either/Or Finds:


He needs a good home. Maybe he's crowing to you...?

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