Humans have used Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur) in various ways: as symbols of love, as fitting sacrifices, even as food. Turtle Doves winter in Africa and breed throughout Europe, in the Middle East, and in much of Asia. Thus, they were familiar birds to early human civilizations and were domesticated early.
Turtle Doves Symbolize True Love
There’s a strong symbolic link between Turtle Doves and lovers. Because mated pairs stay together over many years, and possibly for life, the birds were long associated with love and faithfulness. An early reference is made to them in the famous “Song of Songs” of the Old Testament, one of the oldest and best known love poems: “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land” (Song Sol 2:10-12 King James).
The birds are famous in more modern poetry and literature as well: Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, and even Buddy Holly made reference to the birds. “The Turtle Dove,” a well known folksong, links Turtle Doves to faithful love, and to the belief that if one of a pair dies, the other will never take a new partner. There are many variations of the lyrics:
Oh yonder doth sit that little turtle dove
It doth sit on yonder high tree
A making a moan for the loss of his love
As I will do for thee, my dear
As I will do for thee
Turtle Doves and the Christmas Story
There’s a stronger link between Turtle Doves and Christmas than a simple symbolic gift between lovers: in the Bible story of Christ’s birth, Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to Jerusalem and make the required sacrifice of two Turtle Doves to the Lord. The “Gospel of Luke” describes it: “And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; … And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons (Luke 2: 22, 24).
Many Bible passages of the Old Testament refer to the sacrifice of pairs of Turtle Doves, a tradition apparently started by Moses.
Turtle Doves and Christmas Dinner
Today, people might not like the idea of eating those Turtle Doves, but they are actually good to eat. This may have been the reason Moses specified their use as sacrifices: according to Ingersoll (p. 140), priests and offerers ate the birds after the sacrifice. It’s nice to think that the two Turtle Doves were a symbol of love, but remember, at the end of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," the singer had twenty-two of them - enough for a small feast.
Whether the turtle doves were meant as love birds, a reminder of the Christmas story, or a gift of food, it’s clear that their many links to Christmas made them an appropriate choice for the second day of Christmas.
Related content
Sources
Birds in Legend Fable and Folklore. Ingersoll, Ernest. New York: Longmans, Green and Co.; 1923
"Turtledove." The Medieval Bestiary. bestiary.ca
"Streptopelia turtur." IUCN Red List of threatened Species. iucnredlist.org
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