| Weathercock, weathercock, up in the sky, What | | | | reminder of when Peter denied Christ three |
| can you see from your perch so high? | | | | times; a reminder that each person would deny |
| To farmers or to anyone working outside, the | | | | Jesus in some way. |
| weather has always been a very important | | | | The Quakers and Puritans thought weathercocks |
| element. It taught our forefathers to sense | | | | were graven images, so it wasn't until the |
| impending storms, to hunt from down wind, and | | | | eighteenth century that weathervanes became |
| to make fires safely. | | | | popular in the United States. At this time many |
| Before the days of "weather reports" the | | | | churches adopted either rooster or swallow-tailed |
| weather vane was more important then the clock | | | | vanes. |
| is to workers today. Weather vanes and the wind | | | | In 1742, the most famous weathervane in the |
| was a true indicator of weather patterns. Because | | | | United States was made in Boston. Shaped like a |
| of this weathervanes became indispensable to the | | | | grasshopper, complete with glass eyes. Just think, |
| pioneers. | | | | if that grasshopper could speak---what a historian |
| The first weathervanes were made of wood, | | | | it would be. It has survived earthquakes, fires, and |
| with an arrow or pointing hand that had | | | | the Boston Massacre. |
| north-south directions indicated on them. The | | | | Thomas Jefferson with his creative spirit attached |
| wood would rot, so the pioneers got creative and | | | | the weathervane on Monticello to a pointer in the |
| covered the wood with copper sheeting to give | | | | ceiling of the room directly below. While sitting |
| the weathervane a longer life. This made the | | | | inside he could till the direction of the wind. |
| weathervane too heavy, and it did not swing | | | | "The Dove of Peace," a dove weathervane, was |
| properly. | | | | commissioned by George Washington for his |
| By definition, a weathervane is a figure that turns | | | | estate at Mount Vernon. He commissioned the |
| freely on a vertical rod and always points into the | | | | weathervane commemorating the end of the |
| wind. Weathervane is derived from the word | | | | Revolutionary War. |
| "fane," which means flag or banner in | | | | Weathervane usually feature the interest of the |
| Anglo-Saxon. | | | | owner; from chicken, horses, pigs, and other |
| The Greeks erected the first recorded | | | | livestock for farmers, to deer or water foul for |
| weathervane about 48BC. It honored the Greek | | | | the hunter to sporting scenes or figures of a |
| god Triton, as they believed the winds had divine | | | | humorous nature. Weathervanes show off ones |
| powers. It had 8 sides that were carved | | | | personality. |
| representing the winds. Even then, they knew | | | | Weathervanes are both plain and fancy, some |
| wind was a true indicator of weather patterns. | | | | highly artistic and some humorous, or just an |
| In the ninth century a pope supposedly decreed | | | | arrow pointing into the wind. |
| that every church have a cock on its steeple, a | | | | |