The mournful cooing of the mourning dove has resonated spiritually with humans for millennia. Regarded as a messenger of hope, peace, renewal, and spirit, the mourning dove has accumulated a treasury of rich symbolic meanings across cultures and spiritual traditions.
From biblical texts to folklore, poetry, art, and dreams, the graceful dove is a dynamic and multivalent symbol of the human spirit. By exploring the mourning dove’s distinctive character, habitat, and behavior, its profound spiritual symbolism becomes even more meaningful.
The Mourning Dove’s Distinctive Character
The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family Columbidae, all of which are characterized by stout bodies, short legs, small heads and long, tapered tails. The mourning dove gets its name from its mournful woo-oo-oo-oo call which sounds like it is grieving.
The mourning dove has a slender graceful body with muted gray-brown plumage along its back, wings and tail. Its underside and head are a soft tan color with black spots on the wings. Another distinguishing feature is the black crescent shape on the neck feathers. The eyes are dark with light blue rings. The long, tapered tail has white tips and the wings make a whistling sound in flight.
Weighing 4-6 ounces, mourning doves grow up to 12 inches in length. They have an average lifespan of 1-5 years in the wild. Mourning doves are one of the most abundant and widespread birds in North America.
Symbolism
The mourning dove’s gentle and peaceful appearance has inspired symbolic associations since ancient times:
- Beauty – its graceful shape and soft, muted plumage are pleasing to the eye.
- Gentleness – its vulnerability, soft colors and mournful song convey a gentle, inoffensive nature.
- Peace – while other doves symbolize love, the mourning dove embodies solitude and internal peace.
- Spirit – in flight, it symbolizes the spirit leaving the mortal plane after death.
- Renewal – its seasonal return invokes renewal, constancy, and faithfulness.
- Sacrifice – in some traditions, mourning dove feathers and blood symbolize ritual sacrifice.
- Divinity – as a genus, doves represent feminine spirituality and the presence of the divine.
The Mourning Dove in the Bible
The mourning dove is famously referenced in the biblical story of Noah’s Ark:
“He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.” – Genesis 8:10-11
In this passage, the dove represents hope, peace and the promise of new life after the Flood. The olive branch carried in its mouth is a universal symbol of hope, peace and renewal.
Doves are also mentioned in several psalms as a comparison to describe faith and spiritual yearning:
“Oh that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.” – Psalm 55:6
“I moan like a dove and cease not.” – Isaiah 38:14
Here, the mournful murmuring of a dove expresses the deep longing of the faithful for spiritual connection and the presence of God.
Christianity
In Christianity, the dove became a symbol for the Holy Spirit:
“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove.” – Matthew 3:16
The pure white dove represents the Spirit’s holiness, love and gentleness. Images of a white dove often accompany depictions of the Annunciation and other scenes representing Christ’s purity and divinity.
A dove holding an olive branch continues to be a popular Christian symbol of hope, peace and reconciliation.
Judaism
In Judaism, doves were designated as the acceptable sacrificial offering for people who could not afford expensive animal sacrifices:
“And if the burnt sacrifice of one’s offering to the Lord be of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or of young pigeons.” – Leviticus 1:14
Here the turtledove is specified as an acceptable sacrificial offering, symbolizing that God’s mercy and salvation are available to all.
The Mourning Dove in Folklore and Mythology
Many traditional legends reveal how the mourning dove’s distinctive traits contributed to its symbolic meaning across cultures:
Noah’s Ark
According to Native American folklore, the mourning dove did not enter the ark because it was sleeping in a spruce tree. As the waters rose, the tree sunk beneath the waves and the dove cooed sorrowfully as it tried to wake its mate. That is why its song remains full of grief today.
The Fall of Man
A Jewish legend tells that when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the mourning dove was the first animal to lament the Fall of Man from God’s grace. Its mournful cry reminded Adam and Eve of the innocence they had lost.
The Holy Grail
In Arthurian legend, a dove alights on the Grail cup, representing the presence of the Holy Spirit. Only the knight Percival is spiritually pure enough to see the Grail’s divine nature.
Motherhood
Native American tales depict the mourning dove as a devoted mother who sings to her young in the nest. If her babies are lost, she will mourn endlessly.
Sacrifice
Latvian folklore describes a mother mourning dove that offers its own blood to restore its starving brood. This symbolizes the depths of a mother’s love and self-sacrifice.
The cooing of the mourning dove welcomed summer in many Native American tribes. According to Cheyenne legend, a vision of doves signaled the timing of the sacred Sun Dance.
The Mourning Dove in Poetry and Literature
Poets, writers and dramatists have drawn inspiration from the mournful yet peaceful dove, often contrasting it with more predatory birds:
“O peasant, take not vainly to the woods
Thy mournful songs; the hunter’s dart to-day
Hath lodged full lowly in that mild dove’s breast
Whose plaints did echo to the very woods
The ruth of thine.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“A white dove amongst ravens built her nest;
Mournful beside it sang the mate forlorn,
Lone sobbing on the leafless bough at morn
Loaned the slim tree; but she looked up and smiled
Delighting in her fair and ruddy child
And pulled the thorn-fruit’s clusters from the stem.”
– Alfred Noyes, Tales of the Mermaid Tavern
In both excerpts, the mournful yet gentle dove contrasts with the deadlier raven or hunter. The dove remains serene through hardship or sorrow.
The Mourning Dove in Art and Iconography
The mournful dove features in religious and secular art as an icon of hope, renewal, sacrifice, motherhood and the soul:
- Sacrifice – Renaissance paintings depicting the sacrifice of Isaac often show a mourning dove fleeing the scene as a visual metaphor for the sanctity of life.
- Motherhood – Mary, mother of Jesus, is sometimes portrayed with dove imagery. The dove represents her maternal love and sacrifice.
- Hope – 18th century America frequently depicted mourning doves on gravestones to symbolize the hope of moving on to the afterlife.
- Love – Pre-Raphaelite artists employed the dove as a mature counterpoint to romanticized representations of secular love.
- Renewal – 20th century artists like Picasso used dove imagery to symbolize renewal, consistency and new beginnings.
Pablo Picasso’s lithograph La Colombe de la Paix (1949) depicts a white dove carrying an olive branch, now an iconic global symbol of hope and peace.
The Mourning Dove in Dreams
Dream interpretations often look to context to analyze the deeper meaning when mourning doves appear:
Negative Context
- A mourning dove attacked or killed in a dream may signal loss of hope, disrupted peace or literal danger ahead.
- A crying dove may indicate grief over something lost or sacrificed.
- An unhealthy dove may represent a loss of spirituality, or dysfunctional sacrificial beliefs.
Positive Context
- An elegant, healthy dove symbolizes clarity, purity and divinity of spirit.
- A white dove may represent blessing, favor and nurturing from the divine.
- A flock of doves generally symbolizes community, love and peaceful connections.
The mourning dove’s presence as a dream symbol can provide deeper insight into one’s spiritual state and connection to sources of hope and peace.
Conclusion
With its mournful murmurs, tranquil disposition and graceful white wings, the mourning dove has accumulated profound symbolic meaning across cultures and faith traditions. Representing sacrifice, hope, renewal, gentle love, the maternal spirit, and the presence of the divine, the mourning dove communicate spiritual truths that resonate across the ages. The next time you hear the sorrowful cooing of the mourning dove, listen for its messages of wisdom, faith and inner peace.
