Common Origins of Man: A Universal Practice
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The Decoration of the Head with Feathers
Various exotic birds found in Asia ,South
America, Australia and Africa, such as, the
pheasant, peacock, mythical phoenix, parrot,
egret, ostrich, cascar, eagle, rooster, duck
and goose, owl, quetzal (winged snake)
fly-catcher, and cockatoo, have had their
feathers used as headgear
by
Mexican emperors, the antefix of Olympia, the
Prince
of
Lilies in Knossos, in Crete, and on
traditional Chinese figures within the Shadow
Theater.
We have also seen the winged snakes with
similar feather headgear within museums
located in Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, China and
within the Acropolis museum in Greece.
The feathers have been used in ritual dances
during the youth initiation
process
and in rewarding
winners.
Feather decoration has also been used by the
Ancient Egyptians, the kalash of Pakistan, the
Indians of North America, the Chinese, i.e.
the Dong minority, for leaders of tribes in
Africa and for the Australian
aborigines.
Man has created imaginary human beings with
feathers, like “demons”, Nikes, Angels, Gods
with birds’ faces and winged animals, lions,
horses and
snakes.
The feathers symbolized freedom. According to
legend, fortune tellers are able to understand
the language of the bird and also train eagles
to bring food, such as birds and
fish.
Certain species of birds in Asia, Africa,
Australia, and the Americas have beautiful
shiny colors and their king is a peacock - the
sacred bird of Hera.
It is believed that Alexander the Great
brought the parrot to Greece and the Argonauts
brought the pheasant from Colchis to
Greece.
Today, a certain species of pheasants, known
as
“jewel of nature” exists around Mt. Olympus,
in
Greece,
and it is known for its tender
meat.
The male pheasant has many different colors
such as turquoise, green, purple, orange, and
yellow. The feathers of their tails are often
two meters long and were worn by the
sovereigns, priests, and shamans to decorate
their
heads.
Warriors also
decorated
their weapons, spheres, shields, helmets and
their coat of arms with
feathers.
Ritual dancers, winners of games, and
adolescents during initiation, usually engaged
in these activities with feathers on their
heads. Besides the famous quetzal of Central
America, the peacock of India, the pheasant of
China, the ostrich of Africa, the exotic birds
of Australia, New Guinea and the Carribean,
feathers of geese, ducks and eagles, were used
for decoration as
well.
In Greek art, there is rare usage of feather
decoration, (with the exception of Crete),
because such beautiful birds did
not
exist in
Greece.
The big industry for finishing, dying and
discoloring bird feathers started during the
Middle Ages in England and France. Later, the
fashion of wearing bird feathers flourished in
Europe and America in the beginning of the
nineteenth
century.
Ultimately, this fashion brought serious
threat to birds of rare
species.
The J.J Audubon Society was founded in
California for their
protection.
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Head Gear for Emperors and Priests made
with tail feathers of one hundred quetzals
birds “quetzal” is the Aztec name for “winged
snake”.
The arrangement of the colored feathers had
astronomic and calendar meaning. From
Mexico City Museum of Anthropology (to create
such a head gear, one hundred male birds were
needed).
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Large antefix (diameter
of
2.4 meters, about 600 b.c.) from Terra Cotta
housed in the museum of Olympia, in
Peloponessos, Greece (imitation of exotic
feathers).
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Bronze etruscan fan from a grave (600 b.c.
housed in the archaeological museum of
Florence, Italy.)
It looks like a fan made of
feathers.
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![](photos/feathers04.jpg) Feathered headgear of the Aztecs housed in
the museum Fur Voelkerkunde in Vienna,
Austria.
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![](photos/feathers05.jpg) 19th century parrot feathers
head
dress.
From the Amazon river housed in the museum of
the American Indian in
NY.
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![](photos/feathers06.jpg) Codex Talleriano Remensis, 1388–1399 A..D.,
library M.N.A.H.
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![](photos/feathers07.jpg)
Winged Goddess Snake. Detail of a relief
from Abu Shimbel.
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![](photos/feathers08.jpg) 6th c. B.C. Winged Stone Snake,
Triton housed in the Acropolis museum in
Athens,
Greece.
(Do the stripes make it a Boa?)
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![](photos/feathers09.jpg) Winged Gold Dragon of the 18th
c. “England’s Brighton Pavillion has many
examples of Chinoiserie”.
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The Aztecs believed that man at the
beginning had the shape of a snake that came
out of the Earth and that little by little, as
he became “humanized” feathers grew on his
body which, at one point, would lead him to
the
skies.
Apparently, the feathers symbolized the
passion of man to fly and meet immortality.
Winged Gods (Hermes, Nike, Eros,
Isis etc.) Animals (Sphinx, Horse,
Lion, Bull, etc.)
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![Archaic Sphinx](photos/feathers10.jpg) A copy of the archaic Sphinx (about 560
B.C.) found at Spata, in Attica, Greece,
decorates today the International Airport of
Eleftherios Venizelos (original is housed in
the Archaeological Museum in
Athens).
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![Winged Horse near Xi'an](photos/feathers11.jpg) Stone-Winged Horse near Xi’an, engraved for
the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozhong and his
wife, Empress Wu Zetian
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![Tang Dynasty winged figure](photos/feathers12.jpg) Was the Greek winged Nike-Victory known in
China? Tang Dynasty Tile-End “with winged
figure” with her hands clasped against her
chest similar to the Greek statues--Qinghai
County
Museum
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![Nike Victory of Paionios](photos/feathers13.jpg) Reconstruction of the Nike–Victory of
Paionios (321
B.C.)
The original marble statue (2.15 meters
height) is in the Archaeological Museum of
Olympia--Peloponessos, Greece.
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The peacock (the bird of Hera), “smiles
when it looks at its feathers” and “cries when
it looks at its ugly
legs”.
It opens its feathers like a fan which are
full of “eyes” like the beads for the
protection against the “evil
eye”.
The peacock feather forms inside an “eye” like
the “spectacle” of the Cobra, which offers
protection in addition to the color
blue.
My idea is well supported by the fact that the
“eyes” of the peacock feathers resemble the
eye of the Cobra and moreover, the Chinese
name of this species of snake means exactly
Yanjingshe which means: “spectacle” snake.
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![Blue Bird of Knossos](photos/feathers15.jpg) The famous “blue bird” of the wall painting
in Knossos is most probably a peacock.
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![](photos/feathers16.jpg) Peacock made of yak butter the main product
of Tibet.
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![](photos/feathers17.jpg) 157 Korean girls with feather fans.
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![](photos/feathers18.jpg) Traditional Chinese puppet show figures.
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![Prince of Lilies from Knossos, Crete](photos/feathers19.jpg) “The Prince
of
Lilies” with pheasant feathers. Wall painting
of about 1500 B.C. from Knossos
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![](photos/feathers20.jpg) Detail of a scroll of a tenth century
Chinese painter; Cleveland Museum of Art
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![](photos/feathers21.jpg) Chinese opera figure (Taipei review July
2002). The feathers symbolize the snake.
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![](photos/feathers22.jpg) Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Mandarin in the
Palace Museum of Taiwan with peacock feather
(the eye of the peacock on the back of his
head.)
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Chinese Emperor with feather on his
head.
From the Ming Dynasty Scroll “the Emperor’s
Procession” in the palace museum of
Taipei.
The Emperor’s horse has two long feathers next
to the ears and a red one next to the
muzzle.
In the Olympic games, the athletes were
decorated with red ribbons (on the forehead
and the left arm and thigh) after their
victory and so were the horses of the chariots
that won the race.
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![](photos/feathers24.jpg) Sultan with feathers in his
head.
Photo from the book “Silks for the Sultans
from the Topkapi
Palace”.
Published by Ertug and Kocabiyik.” Istanbul,
1997. “Collectors Series” worth
$550.
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The feather was the prize of games and exploits,
for sovereigns, military men and musicians. The number and position
of the feathers was of importance. Feathers were used for ritual
dance and the ceremony of the initiation of the youth.
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![](photos/feathers25.jpg) Detail of a clay painted vase with a Maya
Prince.
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![](photos/feathers26.jpg) Clay mask. Teotihuacan. 1st c.
B.C.-900 A.D. M.N.A.H.
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![](photos/feathers27.jpg) A youth of the Paiwan tribe of Taiwan with
pheasant feather because he took part in a
foot-race. His brother, who came first, won 3
feathers, the first prize.
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![](photos/feathers28.jpg) Young boys of the Gogo tribe of Tasmania.
Circumcision and initiation with feathers.
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![](photos/feathers29.jpg) War dance of the Ami tribe of Taiwan.
Under the right knee most probably the Order
of the Garter, known in Greece since Mycenean
times.
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![](photos/feathers30.jpg) The Touchi of Rwanda dance; ritual dances
with feathers.
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![](photos/feathers31.jpg) Australian Aboriginal during a ritual
dance.
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![](photos/feathers32.jpg) Australia, cape York. Ancient dance with
cockatoo feathers.
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American Indians,
Their Headresses and Shields
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![](photos/feathers33.jpg) American Indian with eagle. Absaroke
(crow).
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![](photos/feathers34.jpg) “The Medicine Man”. Louisiana, 1904.
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![](photos/page201.jpg) Indian leader from Mazatzal, Arizona.
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![](photos/page202.jpg) Late 19th c. Lakota headdress
(red cloth, glass beads, porcupine quills,
eagle feathers). “Such bonnets were the regalia of Plain
leaders, whose exploits were numbered in eagle
feathers.”
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![](photos/page203.jpg) Absaroke (Crow) shield from the Northern
Plains. Buffalo hide with feathers. New York Museum of the American Indian.
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![](photos/page204.jpg) Northern Plains shield. New York Museum of
the American Indian.
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![](photos/page205.jpg) From the movie of Kevin Kostner. “Dances
with Wolves”.
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“Sitting Bull”. Dakota Indian (1885 A.D.).
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![](photos/page207.jpg) The number of feathers and the position
(in the middle of the head or on the side,
vertical or oblique, was not accidental.
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![](photos/page208.jpg) Fool Bull (1849-1911). Dakota Indian with
shield of feathers. Many will have feathers
through the nose and ear.
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![](photos/page209.jpg) For the Indians of North
America,
when there was no more space for feathers on
the head they used to hang them on their back
and breast and shoulder.
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Feathers,
Shields and Headresses from Other Societies
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![](photos/page210.jpg) Chinese fan (1850 A.D.) made of painted
duck feathers tipped with the eyes of peacock
feathers N.M.N.H. Photo from the Smithsonian
Engagement Calendar (1978).
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![](photos/page211.jpg) Aztec fan from about 1500 A.D. with Quetzal
feathers. Feather fans were a mark of
nobility. Vienna Museum fur Volkerkunde.
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![](photos/page212.jpg) Monster made of feathers and gold on an
Aztec leather shield. Feathers are affixed to
the rim. Colors of feathers: “scarlet macaw,
blue cotinga, yellow oriole and rose spoonbill
bird.” Vienna Museum fur Volkerkunde.
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![](photos/page213.jpg) Leader of the Ami tribe of Taiwan (one of
the nine Aboriginal tribes) during the
Japanese occupation.
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![](photos/page214.jpg) Silver figurine with parrot feathers found
near the body of an Incas child. Cuzco, Peru.
Photo: LIFE TIME books.
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![](photos/page215.jpg) Mongol Princes used to have feathers on
the head. The eagle (like the eagle of Zeus)
was trained to kill and bring many birds.
Indian miniature (about 1600). Paris Guimet
Museum.
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![](photos/page216.jpg) Papua of New Guinea, where the paradise
birds are at home.
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![](photos/page217.jpg) The Kalash, known as the “the descendants
of Alexander the Great” in Pakistan also have
feathers on their head.
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![](photos/page218.jpg) A wedding of Aboriginals of Taiwan.
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![](photos/page219.jpg) One of the nine Aboriginal tribes of
Taiwan dancing with feathers.
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![](photos/page221.jpg) Funeral ceremony in Northern Australia.
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![](photos/page220.jpg) The minorities of Yao and Dong in Southern
China still decorate their head with feathers.
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![](photos/page222.jpg) Native of the Louson island, the largest
of the Archipelago of the Phillippines in a
rice field. The tribe of Ifugaos, men and
women, decorate the head with feathers.
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Isolated elements that survived in the most
unlikely and distant corners of the Earth
helped
find the missing rings in the history of
mankind. “To bring together again the two
halves of Humanity will be the great work of
our times” (P.L. Couchoud, French Diplomat and
Historian, 1879-1959).
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![](photos/page223.jpg) The Egyptian Goddess Maat with egret
feather. 19th dynasty relief in the
Museum at Florence.
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![](photos/page224.jpg) God with a bird’s face and feathers. From a
Chinese children’s book.
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![](photos/page226.jpg) The Chinese general Cai E (1911) with
ostrich feathers on his hat. 1983 Chinese
History movie. He is riding a white horse like
the Indian of Kevin Kostner.
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![](photos/page225.jpg) Marie Antoinette (1755-1793). Austrian
Princess and French Empress.
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Queen Elisabeth II of England with ostrich
feathers and the Order of the Garter on the
left shoulder. Prince Charles of Wales also
has three ostrich feathers (called “the Wales
Feathers”) on his coat of arms. The first
prize for the winner of the Aboriginals of
Taiwan also consisted of three feathers.
Ostrich feathers are indispensable in the
official attire of UK sovereigns. The feather
was given as a prize maybe because feathers
were the proof that the hunter had succeeded
in killing birds to feed the people (today we
do not eat, for instance, the eagle or the
seagull but at that time any bird was edible).
To understand that the feather was given as a
prize and reward for a certain achievement
helps the expression in English “you have now
a feather in your cap”.
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![](photos/birds01.jpg) Paradise birds of New Guinea. They live at
a height of 5,000 ft. The tail of the male
bird is twice as long as its body
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![](photos/birds02.jpg) One female and two male Paradise birds, one of
fifteen species of Paradise birds of New Guinea
and the only one that has the long feathers
growing from its head and not from its tail.
Probably this bird about which not much is known
gave the idea to decorate the head with feathers.
Strong sexual dimorphism is the characteristic of
the Paradise bird and the female has neither the
beautiful colors nor the long feather of the male. |
![](photos/birds03.jpg) Goddess on phoenix bird.12th c.
painting on silk in the Museum of History at
Beijing. |
![](photos/birds04.jpg) “Supernatural bird” (probably a phoenix) from
Palaikastron, in Crete. Ivory plaque (LMI). |
![](photos/birds05.jpg) Phoenix birds embroidered on the back of a
Qing dynasty imperial chair. Collection of the Summer Palace of Chengde. |
![](photos/birds06.jpg) Forked-tail male flycatcher. Chromolithograph
(c. 1860) N.M.H.T. |
![](photos/birds07.jpg) Cloisonne parrots made (1871) in the imperial
workshop. N.M.N.H. |
![](photos/coat.jpg) The coats of arms of Austria decorated with
birds and feathers. From the “handregister” of the
Emperor Frederick III (1446). Vienna Staatsarchiv. |
![](photos/austrianmusk.jpg) Austrian imperial musketeer. Oil on canvas,
about 1640. Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum.
The hat of the national costume of Austria, today,
is decorated with feathers and woodcock feathers
have the Scotch on their hat. |
![](photos/cadets.jpg) French cadets of the military school St. Cyr
in dress uniform. The cadets of the military
school Saint Cyr north of Paris have on their hats
cascar bird feathers (a kind of ostrich from
Malaysia). Eagle feathers have the Italian Alpini
and pheasant feathers decorate the hats of Tyrol. |
![](photos/korean.jpg) Korean
warrior during a ceremony with feathers on his hat.
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![](photos/athenians.jpg) Philharmonic orchestra of the Athens
Municipality. Red feathers and red or blue
jackets. |
Africa and Shaka Zulu
It was easy for Shaka
Zulu and the colored people of Africa to find
feathers for their headdresses. |
![](photos/africa1.jpg) Shaka with one feather on his head... |
![](photos/africa3.jpg) ....and his
“prime minister” with his head full of feathers. |
![](photos/africa2.jpg) Warriors of Shaka Zulu with feathers on their
head and blue paint on their breast for
protection. |
![](photos/africa4.jpg) National Day of Nigeria. Horsemen, that look
medieval, wear helmets decorated with feathers. |
![](photos/africa5.jpg) Karo woman of
Ethiopia.
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