Eagle

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Cultural significance

In Skagit Valley,Washington, United States
The bald eagle is important in various Native American cultures and, as the national bird of the United States, is prominent in seals and logos, coinage, postage stamps, and other items relating to the U.S. federal government.

Role in Native American culture

The bald eagle is a sacred bird in some North American cultures, and its feathers, like those of the golden eagle, are central to many religious and spiritual customs among Native Americans. Eagles are considered spiritual messengers between gods and humans by some cultures.[125] Many pow wow dancers use the eagle claw as part of their regalia as well. Eagle feathers are often used in traditional ceremonies, particularly in the construction of regalia worn and as a part of fans, bustles and head dresses. The Lakota, for instance, give an eagle feather as a symbol of honor to person who achieves a task. In modern times, it may be given on an event such as a graduation from college.[126] The Pawnee considered eagles as symbols of fertility because their nests are built high off the ground and because they fiercely protect their young.[127] The Choctaw considered the bald eagle, who has direct contact with the upper world of the sun, as a symbol of peace.[128]
Staff at the National Eagle Repository processing a bald eagle.
During the Sun Dance, which is practiced by many Plains Indian tribes, the eagle is represented in several ways. The eagle nest is represented by the fork of the lodge where the dance is held. A whistle made from the wing bone of an eagle is used during the course of the dance. Also during the dance, a medicine man may direct his fan, which is made of eagle feathers, to people who seek to be healed. The medicine man touches the fan to the center pole and then to the patient, in order to transmit power from the pole to the patient. The fan is then held up toward the sky, so that the eagle may carry the prayers for the sick to the Creator.[129]
Current eagle feather law stipulates that only individuals of certifiable Native American ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain or possess bald or golden eagle feathers for religious or spiritual use. The constitutionality of these laws has been questioned by Native American groups on the basis that it violates the First Amendment by affecting ability to practice their religion freely.[130][131]
The National Eagle Repository, a division of the FWS, exists as a means to receive, process, and store bald and golden eagles which are found dead, and to distribute the eagles, their parts and feathers, to federally recognized Native American tribes for use in religious ceremonies.[132]

National bird of the United States

Seal of the President of the United States
The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States of America.[133] The founders of the United States were fond of comparing their new republic with the Roman Republic, in which eagle imagery (usually involving the golden eagle) was prominent. On June 20, 1782, the Continental Congress adopted the still-current design for the Great Seal of the United Statesincluding a bald eagle grasping 13 arrows and a 13-leaf olive branch with its talons.[134][135][136]
The bald eagle appears on most official seals of the U.S. government, including the presidential seal, the presidential flag, and in the logos of many U.S. federal agencies. Between 1916 and 1945, the presidential flag (but not the seal) showed an eagle facing to its left (the viewer's right), which gave rise to the urban legend that the flag is changed to have the eagle face towards the olive branch in peace, and towards the arrows in wartime.[137]
Contrary to popular legend, there is no evidence that Benjamin Franklin ever publicly supported the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), rather than the bald eagle, as a symbol of the United States. However, in a letter written to his daughter in 1784 from Paris, criticizing the Society of the Cincinnati, he stated his personal distaste for the bald eagle's behavior. In the letter Franklin states:[4]
For my own part. I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly ... besides he is a rank coward: The little king bird not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district.

Franklin opposed the creation of the Society because he viewed it, with its hereditary membership, as a noble order unwelcome in the newly independent Republic, contrary to the ideals of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, for whom the Society was named; his reference to the two kinds of birds is interpreted as a satirical comparison between the Society of the Cincinnati and Cincinnatus.[138]


Eagles in culture

Etymology

The modern English term for the bird is derived from Latin: aquila by way of French: aigle. The origin of aquila is unknown, but it is believed to possibly derive from either aquilus (meaning dark-colored, swarthy, or blackish) as a reference to the plumage of eagles or from aquilo (meaning north wind).
Old English used the term earn, related to Scandinavia's ørn / örn. It is similar to other Indo-European terms for "bird" or "eagle", including Greek: ὄρνις (ornís), Russian: орёл (orël), and Welsh: eryr. The Albanian word for eagle is shqiponjë, deriving from the root shqipe.
In Britain before 1678, eagle referred specifically to the golden eagle, with the other native species, the white-tailed eagle, being known as erne. The modern name "golden eagle" for aquila chrysaetos was introduced by the naturalist John Ray.[citation needed]

Religion

Eagle lectern in St James' Church, Sydney.
Garuda, the Vahana of Lord Vishnu, depicted with an eagle's beak and wings.
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshiped the animal and often depicted eagles in their art.[21]
The eagle is also the patron animal of the ancient Greek god Zeus. In particular, Zeus was said to have taken the form of an eagle in order to abduct Ganymede, and there are numerous artistic depictions of the eagle Zeus bearing Ganymede aloft, from Classical times up to the present (see illustrations in the Ganymede (mythology) page.)
Despite modern and historic Native American practices of giving eagle feathers to non-indigenous people and also members of other tribes who have been deemed worthy, current United States eagle feather law stipulates that only individuals of certifiable Native American ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers for religious or spiritual reasons.[22] In Canada, the poaching of eagle feathers for the booming U.S. market has sometimes resulted in the arrests of First Nations person for the crime.[23]
The eagle is a common form in the Anglican tradition, often used to support the Bible because of the symbolism of spreading the gospel over the world. Additional symbolic meanings for “eagle” include the pronouncements to the Israelites in Exodus 19:4; Psalms 103:5 and Isaiah 40:31.
In Hinduism, Garuda is a lesser divinity, usually the mount (vahanam) of Vishnu. Garuda is depicted as having the golden body of a strong man with a white face, red wings, and an eagle's beak and with a crown on his head. This ancient deity was said to be massive, large enough to block out the sun.
The eagle is also the symbol of Libby, Montana, which was recently named "The City of Eagles"[24][25]

As national symbols

See also: Eagles in heraldry
The flag of Albania - a black double-headed eagle on a red background.
The coat of arms of Mexico – a golden eagle perched upon a cactus eating a snake.
The coat of arms of Austria – a black eagle holding a hammer and a sickle, with a broken chain between its legs.
Eagles have been used by many nations as a national symbol.
Historic uses:
  • The Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt used it as their seal.
  • Napoleon I used the Roman golden eagle as the symbol of his new French empire.
  • Persian Empire: the symbol of the Persian Army was an eagle.
  • The Romans used it on the standards of their armies. From this derives:
    • The late Byzantine Empire chose a two-headed golden eagle as its symbol. It is popularly that one head symbolised ancient Rome, and the other head symbolized "new Rome" at Constantinople. From this derives:
      • The two-headed eagle is the emblem of "Shqipëria" or Land of the Eagles, which is known in English as Albania (see The Tale of the Eagle for the legendary origin of the name).
      • After the fall of Constantinople, the Russian Empire took the two-headed eagle as its own symbol.
    • After his crowning as the new Roman Emperor, Charlemagne adopted the ancient Roman eagle as his own symbol. The Holy Roman Empire born of his kingdom took the eagle, but the Habsburgs replaced the golden eagle by an imperial eagle. From this derives:
  • The Seljuk and Ottoman Turks both used a double-headed eagle in their coats-of-arms.
  • During the 1930s and 1940s, Hitler's Nazi Germany used a black eagle with its wings outstretched and clutching a swastika as its insignia.
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