Blue and white peacocks in the monastery of Sveti Naum

Blue and white peacocks in the monastery of Sveti Naum

In parks, public gardens or even in between buildings, as well as at the monastery complex of Sveti Naum, the visitor meets the Blue Peacock, due to their striking appearance, especially the males are regarded as the oldest ornamental birds in the world.

Already in the legends of Greek antiquity peacocks were mentioned as ornamental birds. As locally accepted birds, the peacocks originally native to India and Sri Lanka and now are kept as pets worldwide.

Peacocks are polygamous birds. They live in smaller family associations consisting of a cock and several hens. The propagation time is from April to August. During this time, each cock has three or five hens. The peacock then chooses a territory, which it occupies and defends against other cocks. During the extensive courtship the male peacock beats his circle and presents his magnificent feather fan. He repeatedly makes his feathers tremble, which produce a loud rustling noise. It turns its back to the hen as she approaches him. This peculiar behavior is repeated until the hen settles in front of the cock.

We were fortunate enough to observe the procedure or the persistence of this procedure at the peacocks of Sveti Naum, especially because there are white peacocks that we had not seen before. The white peacock is often thought to be an albino, but this is not true, for it is not albinism, but laicism, which is why its iris is dark and not red. Our samples were probably so enthusiastic about feeling love that we could photographed extensively.

The peacock is a symbol of beauty, wealth, royalism, love, passion, but also immortality, arrogance and vanity, so the peacock has always held a special position in the animal kingdom. Around it are myths and legends of different cultures and epochs. In India it is the national bird as well as its position is treated like a sacred animal.

In Isaiah, the beast represents the "angel peacock", holy for the Jesids, who is called Tausi Melek, and who was appointed by God to be the supreme angel and the protector and administrator of the earth.

In Greek mythology, the goddess Hera created the "one-eyed" feather dress of the peacock from the multi-eyed giant Argos, who guarded with his Argus eyes, and was finally killed by Hermes.

In Islam, peacocks are considered extremely clean and pure. In the thirteenth century, the poet Saadi, in his work Golestan ("rose garden"), considered the peacock feather to be worthy of being a bookmark in the Koran. Goethe took over this motif in the West-Eastern Divan and gave the peacocks feather a divine being.

Quite often you will find the peacock in early Christian mosaics, like to be seen at the excavation of Stobi.

Please read as well:

Source of Ohrid Lake near Sveti Naum

Ohrid - lovely city hike with Marta and Luis

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