Editing Peafowl (section)

=== Christianity ===
The symbolism was adopted by early Christianity, thus many early Christian paintings and mosaics show the peacock.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Birds, symbolic |last1=Murray |first1=Peter |last2=Murray |first2=Linda |title=Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art |date=2004 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofchri0000murr/page/61 |chapter-url-access=registration |page=61 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-860966-3}}</ref> The peacock is still used in the Easter season, especially in the east. The "eyes" in the peacock's tail feathers can symbolise the all-seeing Christian God,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Keating |first=Jessica |date=November 2021 |title=Hidden in plain sight: on copiousness in the Kunstkammer of Emperor Rudolf II |journal=Journal of the History of Collections |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=448 |doi=10.1093/jhc/fhab009}}</ref> the Church,<ref name=Mercatante >{{Cite book |last=Mercatante |first=Anthony S. |url=https://archive.org/details/factsonfileencyc00merc/page/518 |title=The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend |date=1988 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=0-8160-1049-8 |page=518}}</ref> or angelic wisdom.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mathews |first=Thomas |date=2022 |editor-last=Alpi |editor-first=F. |editor2-last=Meyer |editor2-first=R. |editor3-last=Tinti |editor3-first=I. |editor4-last=Zakarian |editor4-first=D. |chapter=The iconography of the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel |title=Armenia Through the Lens of Time |publisher=Brill |page=28 |doi=10.1163/9789004527607_003 |isbn=978-90-04-52760-7}}</ref> The emblem of a pair of peacocks drinking from a vase is used as a symbol of the eucharist and the resurrection, as it represents the Christian believer drinking from the waters of eternal life.<ref name=Migotti>{{Cite journal |last=Migotti |first=Branka |date=1997 |title=An early Christian fresco from Štrbinci near Đakovo |journal=Hortus Artium Medievalium |volume=3 |pages=215–216 |doi=10.1484/J.HAM.2.305110|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/264547 }}</ref> The peacock can also symbolise the cosmos if one interprets its tail with its many "eyes" as the vault of heaven dotted by the sun, moon, and stars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Patricia Cox |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=519gDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |title=In the Eye of the Animal: Zoological Imagination in Ancient Christianity |date=2018 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-5035-0 |page=21}}</ref> Due to the adoption by [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] of the ancient idea that the peacock's flesh did not decay, the bird was again associated with immortality.<ref name=Mercatante/><ref name=Migotti/> In Christian iconography, two peacocks are often depicted either side of the Tree of Life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/illustrateddicti0000hall_y4v3/page/38 |title=Hall's Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art |date=1994 |publisher=John Murray |isbn=0-7195-4954-X |page=38}}</ref>

The symbolic association of peacock feathers with the wings of angels led to the 
belief that the waving of such liturgical fans resulted in an automated emission of 
prayers. This affinity between peacocks' and angels' feathers was also expressed in 
other artistic media, including paintings of angels with peacock feather wings
<ref>Green, N. (2006). Ostrich Eggs and Peacock Feathers: Sacred Objects as Cultural Exchange between Christianity and Islam. Al-Masāq, 18(1), 27–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110500222328</ref>