One of three peacocks who roam the 13 acre grounds of St. John the Divine. Peacocks have lived on the cathedral grounds since the 1980s, when the Bronx Zoo donated some chicks. The Cathedral is located at 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, one block east of Broadway, New York City, New York.
Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus, a resident breeder in South Asia. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India and the provincial bird of Punjab.
While the Peafowl is native to India and Burma, it has been taken into captivity and developed permanent, free-roaming populations in Japan and England. There are permanent feral populations in Metropolitan South Florida that are protected by law. Musters of peafowl are frequently seen in the Coconut Grove area of Miami, near downtown Fort Lauderdale, and near Biscayne Bay in the municipalities of Miami Lakes, Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay.
In Hinduism, the Peacock is associated with Saraswati, a deity representing benevolence, patience, kindness, compassion and knowledge. Peacocks have a special relation with Lord Krishna. he wears peacock feathers on his head, and ties them with his flute. These feathers are given to him by the peacocks themselves. Peacock is also the mount of Hindu God of war Murugan, also called Kartikeya, the brother of Ganesha. Similar to Saraswati, the Peacock is associated with Kwan-yin in Asian spirituality. Kwan-yin (or Quan Yin, Guanyin) is also an emblem of love, compassionate watchfulness, good-will, nurturing, and kind-heartedness. Legend tells us she chose to remain a mortal even though she could be immortal because she wished to stay behind and aid humanity in their spiritual evolution.
In Greco-Roman mythology the Peacock is identified with the goddess Hera (Juno). The eyes upon the peacock's tail comes from Argus whose hundred eyes were placed upon the peacock's feathers by the goddess in memory of his role as the guard of Io, a lover of Zeus that Hera had punished. The eyes are said to symbolize the vault of heaven and the "eyes" of the stars.
In Babylonia and Persia the Peacock is seen as a guardian to royalty, and is often seen in engravings upon the thrones of royalty.
In Christianity, the peacock is a symbol of eternal life. The Peacock symbolism represents the "all-seeing" church, along with the holiness and sanctity associated with it. Additionally, the Peacock represents resurrection, renewal and immortality within the spiritual teachings of Christianity. Themes of renewal are also linked to alchemical traditions too, as many schools of thought compare the resurrecting phoenix to the modern-day Peacock.
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