Not Another History Podcast
We are Cindy and Katie, and every two weeks we bring you a random theme and offer several of our favorite historical events loosely based on that theme. We are basically just living out our old lady fantasies of rocking on the front porch together, drinking, and gossiping about people who are already dead. Music: The Life of a Divorced Bumblebee by Josef Bel Habib (www.epidemicsound.com). Design: canva.com
Not Another History Podcast
2 Turtle Doves
In honor of the holiday season, we are re-releasing our 12 Days of Christmas special! For the next 12 days, we will re-release one episode a day, each one with our own spin on the classic holiday theme, "The 12 Days of Christmas."
Cindy explains what the $&*+ a turtle dove is.
on the second day of christmas, my true love gave to me two turtle doves.
Speaker 2:And can I tell you, kitty, I was so honored that I got the chance to research this lyric of the song to turtle doves. What a more beautiful vision of Christmas. And well, here's the deal, katie, what the is a turtle dove.
Speaker 1:It's Cindy when a dove and a turtle love each other very much.
Speaker 2:La, la, la, la, la, la la cover your kids' ears. So for this, I want to say, I relied heavily on operationturtledoveorg for my information. So did you know, Katie, that turtle doves are a delicate, dainty species of dove that weigh only about 140 grams, or like a third of a pound? It is their charismatic turturing sound. I wish it gets its name.
Speaker 1:Do that with me, so it has nothing to do with reptiles.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, it's just, they're purring. That's why they're called purring dogs.
Speaker 1:Let me just say I feel like ornithologists are the laziest sons of guns you ever met. What's this bird? It says whippoorwill, whippoorwill. Let this bird. It says whippoorwill, whippoorwill, let's call it a whippoorwill. This one says what are?
Speaker 2:we going to name it. It's telling us what it wants to be called. It's supposed to be called a turtle dove. Turtle doves are the only long distance migratory dove species in europe. They depart their breeding grounds in Western Europe in mid to late summer and they choose to winter in West Africa because Palm Beach City is just too busy.
Speaker 1:It's too far. It's too far and with the COVID restrictions now it's really hard to get the little tiny bird masks on.
Speaker 2:So now that we know what the turtle dove is, why would someone give somebody else not one, but two of them as a present?
Speaker 1:Well, how are you going to get any more baby turtle doves?
Speaker 2:How else can I start a turtle dove breeding farm Exactly? Well, here's a fun fact, katie, speaking of making babies turtle doves have historically had romantic associations specifically with fidelity and trust. The roman deity fetus fight us. What is it? How do you spell it? F-i-d-e-s. Fidus, but it's an E-S.
Speaker 1:F-I-D-E-S Fides.
Speaker 2:Oh, fides, okay, the Roman deity Fides, the goddess of good faith, was often pictured holding a turtle dove. For those of you Greek mythology fans not Katie. For those of you Greek mythology fans not Katie you may have noticed that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had a chariot that was pulled by turtle doves. Shakespeare himself wrote often of turtle doves, as did Anne Bronte and even Edgar Allan Poe, but some might say that turtle doves had their real moment in the sun on May 19th 2018, katie, what day was that?
Speaker 1:Oh, is that? No? No, that's not. Oh, that's when they got the new Pope right. Nope, I know it's not Catherine and William's wedding, because that was 2019.
Speaker 2:No, no it wasn't 2019.
Speaker 1:But but but but, the other one, harry.
Speaker 2:Meghan and Harry's wedding which, may I remind you, that wedding was watched by millions of people and during the ceremony, one of the readings actually described turtle doves as heralds of spring heralds of spring?
Speaker 1:it's not. I go back to my victors of history.
Speaker 2:They're not the stevens of spring, they're not the janets of spring, they're the heralds picturing all these men in like hawaiian shirts, like coming out like I'm, a herald of spring flip-flop season. Yet so not only are turtle doves associated with love, but they also symbolize deepest devotion. It is said that if one turtle dove of a turtle dove pair dies, the other one will mourn. When co-ruler of Florence Giuliano de' Medici was murdered in 1478, his partner commissioned a portrait of Medici which included a turtle dove which was supposed to represent his mourning partner. And it also, of course, doesn't help that the sound they make sounds a lot like really awful mourning, and also the fact that they drink a lot too. No, I'm just kidding, they don't do that.
Speaker 1:I was going to say. I have been in mourning and I've never once uttered the phrase, no matter how depressed I was Not once.
Speaker 2:I did drink a lot, though. Exactly there, though exactly here you go. Just like a turtle, just like a turtle. Turtle doves are still a symbol of affection today. I'd like to take a moment to reference one of the most stirring films of our time home alone too, as you might recall, katie. In this film, kevin presents one of his turtle dove ornaments to the bird lady. He says, quote turtle doves are a symbol of friendship and love. Keep one and give the other to a very special person. As long as each of you has a turtle dove, you will be friends forever. End quote.
Speaker 1:We're really running out of historical sources, that we have to use Macaulay Culkin as a primary source.
Speaker 2:But here's the big question you've all been waiting for Should you, this holiday season, give your lover a turtle dove or two for Christmas? Well, in addition to being a symbol of love, affection and devotion, doves are also delicious and have been hunted for thousands of years. Turtle doves are hunted legally in some countries, but they are being harvested in excess and the number of turtle doves is declining rapidly. In fact, turtle doves are the UK's fastest declining bird species, and they are threatened with global extinction, oh wow. Therefore, when looking for a special gift for that special someone, probably best to stick to the Ferrero Rocher.
Speaker 1:Agreed, agreed. I do have to say I'm a little disappointed. When you were building it up and saying, should you get someone some turtle doves, I was really hoping you were going to say I'm a little disappointed. When you were building it up and saying, should you get someone some turtle doves, I was really hoping you're gonna say no, because they're extremely aggressive no, they're just extremely almost extinct.
Speaker 1:That's why, oh because they're so adorable and delicious my thesis stands the more there is a relationship, the more adorable a creature gets, the more delicious and that, dear katie, is what the f*** a turtle dove is.
Speaker 2:Thank, you.