The Dove

 

The dove has been a symbol of peace and innocence for thousands of years in many different cultures. In ancient Greek mythology it was a symbol of love and the renewal of life and in ancient Japan a dove carrying a sword symbolised the end of war. Early Christians portrayed baptism accompanied by a dove, often on their sepulchres and in the story of Noah in the Bible, when the flood waters receded, Noah sent out a dove which returned with an olive leaf, to show that the Biblical flood was over and that life had returned to Earth. Ever since, in the Christian faith, the dove has symbolised deliverance and God’s forgiveness.

Pablo Picasso made the dove a modern symbol of peace when it  was selected as the emblem for the World Peace Congress in 1949. The dove became a symbol for the peace movement and the ideals of the Communist Party. 




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