Peacock Superstition

/ Kimberly

I have ambivalent feelings about peacock feathers.

Before I tell you why, check out this photograph by Zaida Ben-Yusuf, which she named The Peacock’s Plumage. It was originally published in the June 1898 issue of Photo-Era.

It’s such an interesting choice to dress the model in all white. Any other color would take away from those rich, iridescent dark greens and blues of the feathers. Even in black and white, it’s still a wonderful photograph.

Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts

I think peacock feathers are beautiful. I’ve always had some that I use as decor but my admiration is tinged with dismay.

When I lived in North Carolina, several people asked me why I would have them in my house when they were known to bring bad luck. This superstition may be specific to the South. It was enough to make me nervous about the feathers but not nervous enough to get rid of them.

My bad luck charms

Evidently, peacocks don’t make the best pets. My cousin Shela raised them on her farm. When she bought them, she picked them up in her truck in another state and drove them home. She said being in close quarters with multiple peacocks isn’t as fun as you might imagine. At least, they weren’t particularly fragrant and they have a very distinctive call.  Her assessment of the whole experience was: “No wonder they’re called fowl!”

On the other hand, it’s possible to become attached to a peacock. A few years ago, when people were first allowed to bring a therapy animal on an airplane to keep calm, someone turned up at the San Francisco airport and tried to board a plane with her emotional support peacock. I don’t know what rules existed at the time for therapy animals but the airlines probably have to have policies limiting which animals are allowed on the flight. No bears, livestock, birds of prey, boa constrictors… et cetera!

If you haven’t heard a peacock call, check out this video:

 

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14 thoughts on “Peacock Superstition”

    • “It is very beautiful, what you write, and the peacock is very beautiful with its feathers and when opening its feathers, it increases its beauty. It is described that he is arrogant with its beauty.” Exactly right!

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  2. I love the model’s flowing dress and regal manner! Why don’t they make clothes like that today? Emotional support peacock might be the funniest thing I’ve heard all week.

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      • I was reading a little about them before I published this and learned a surprising fact. Lots of farmers use them as an alarm system for natural predators and burglars alike. They are as good as or better than a dog for raising an alarm!

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        • We owned a miniature schnauzer when our children were young. Actually, we owned two over a 30 year span. One beautiful summer weekend, driving in the country side outside Princeton, NJ, with our children and the dog, the dog spotted several peacocks in a field. He liked putting his head out the window so it was partially down. Miniature schnauzer were bred to be a farm dog to chase rats, groundhogs, etc., and to be a stable companion to horses in stables. When our miniature schnauzer saw the peacocks he decided to leap from the moving vehicle and go after the birds. The car was moving about 45 mph at the time. After an exam by our veterinarian he was assessed as being “as fit as a fiddle.”

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  3. I’m not superstitious and I love peacocks and their beauty. The only bad luck might be to accidentally step in their droppings. We had to watch where we walked when we went to the Arboretum in Arcadia, CA. Peacocks roamed free all over the Arboretum. I vote for you to keep the feathers and just enjoy their beauty.

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  4. I remember peacocks being a thing when I was a kid in southwestern Ontario. Some park we used to go to had them. Their call is quite piercing and I have always remembered what it sounded like and got very good at imitating it, lol. I am sure my mother didn’t enjoy that. I have never heard of bad luck being associated with the feathers. Must be a local superstition. If you aren’t in that locality, I would ignore it.

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