Why the Pelican?

Christians have always been artists. Artists are often misunderstood by the rest of humanity, and as a result, strive to make others understand the truth. The truth can only rarely be fully communicated with mere words, so in order to proclaim the truth, artists have used symbols to conveys ideas that are just to big for words.

The word symbol comes from the the greek word, symbolon, which could be translated to mean “bring together”. Originally, a symbolon was a piece of baked clay that often had an inscription of a word or phrase which had a certain meaning for two particular friends or parties. The friends would brake it in half so that the word on it could no longer be read, but then when they were reunited they would reconnect the halves to form the whole. Later this term was applied not just to two separate halves being brought together, but two separate ideas that are brought together. In this way, a symbol came to mean a thing which stood for something else, some other bigger idea.

One of the oldest Christian symbols is the Pelican. According to medieval legend, a mother pelican would peck open her own breast and feed her own blood to her chicks to save them from starvation, even at the expense of her own life. Christians have always seen this as a symbol for Christ, who shed his blood that we might live and even gives it to us along with his body for spiritual food and drink. For this reason, the pelican often appears on tabernacles, altars, altar cloths, and priest’s vestments.

Another earlier symbol for Christ is a fish. This is because the greek word for fish, ichthus, is an an acronym for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. Like the pelican, who has the unique ability among birds to carry fish in its stretchy beak, Christian evangelists and artists should be inspired by the pelican to carry fish (Christ) to others, even if it means stretching a little or even shedding blood. For these reasons, the Pelican was chosen as our school’s official mascot. (And also because it’s a beach animal, which seemed appropriate for the San Diego area.)

The meaning contained in a symbol can go far beyond a single word or even a combination of any number of words. God surrounds us with symbols. He constantly speaks to us through them, not just in the Bible, but even in our own lives, in His own unique way. It is only when we realize this that we can start paying attention the symbols that surround us and listen deeply to what God is trying to tell us. When we do that, we ourselves become symbols of Christ to those around us, not just through our art, but through our very lives.