CHAPTER VI 



BIRDS IN CHRISTIAN TRADITION AND 

 FESTIVAL 



THE crowing of a cock ushered in the momentous 

 tragedy that closed the earthly career of Jesus of 

 Nazareth. Jesus had told one of his disciples in 

 the evening of the Passover, that "the cock shall not 

 crow this day before that thou shalt twice deny that thou 

 knowest me" {Luke, xxii, 34). Later that same night 

 Jesus was arrested and taken into the house of the Jewish 

 high priest, and when, one after another, three persons 

 had identified Peter as one of the Disciples Peter each 

 time denied it, "and immediately, while he yet spake, the 

 cock crew. ,, 



Although the cock and his brood have had a part in 

 Oriental and classical superstitions, ceremonies, and 

 myths since these things began, it is probable that Jesus 

 had in mind nothing more than the time of "cock- 

 crowing," which among the Jews was a recognized name 

 of the third watch of the night, beginning at three o'clock 

 in the morning. Mark enumerates the four watch-divis- 

 ions when he says: "Ye know not when the master of 

 the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock- 

 crowing, or in the morning." 



Out of this simple matter, a natural habit of the bird, 

 the early Christians, with the avidity of zealots for in- 

 spired pegs on which to hang new devotions, set up many 

 theories and customs. For instance, I find in the English 



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