Through time and from various perspectives animals have never been detached from human societies. Anthropologists have the phenomenon called “totemism”. It is a belief in which humans are said to have kinship, are descended from or have a mystical relationship with a sprit-beings such as animals, plants, and other natural objects. Therefore, the symbol of the entity or the “totem” in this case is thought to interact with a given kin group or an individual to serve as their emblem or symbol. By representing desirable individual qualities like – for example courage of a Lion or wisdom of a Peacock – societies try to explain the mythical origin of the group identity and solidarity. Religious sects on other hand paint totemism as the group of superstitions and customs.
In a nutshell national symbols such as flags, anthems, or emblems serve as conceptual representations of group membership. Even though a division between the natural world and the cultural human has been established in several societies, there is strong tendency to use animals as symbols is present in many human societies. Scholars say that national symbols are not passive fixtures of people’s environment, but instead may yield significant psychological and social effects. Therefore, national symbols may have important implications for intergroup relations due to their relation to heightened national identification and potential to automatically activate concepts associated with nationhood.
In contrary to the aforementioned other academics and the public alike often oppose symbolism and the real world, implying that symbolism of various kinds is above all decorative and of secondary importance to the real world of politics and economics. For most modernist theories of nationalism, for example, symbols belong to the world of myths and legends and are marginal importance, wrote Gabriella Elgenius in a Doctor Degree paper at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Despite national symbols pervade most contemporary societies, and public policies encourage the displays of symbols, David A. Butz, asserted in an International Society of Political Society Journal – “National Symbols as Agents of Psychological and Social Change” – that little research has considered the psychological and social effects of exposure to national symbols.
Agreeing that nations are social constructs while few have operationalized empirically the ways in which ordinary people participate in such national constructions; some other researchers say symbols are multivocal and multivalent which means different things to different people at different times.
The national animal of a country is a designated on the basis of the unique qualities that the animal symbolize. There is common understanding that the national animal should uphold certain qualities or values of the nation it belongs to, and it should be a prominent feature in the cultural history of the country and the beauty that it embodies. In
the meantime, being designated as a national symbol hopefully affords that particular animal a special status with increased awareness and dedicated conservation efforts.
Evidently, this piece has been inspired by a recent social media banters, some thoughtful tête-à-têtes along with mainstream opinion pieces that followed to the placing of two giant Peacock statue on the gates of the former Grand Palace, right where a convention hall is located beside the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. The placing of the statue of this bird on an empty space brought numerous confounded critics ventilating a misinformation on what the Peacock is emblematic of. It also goes as if the bird was set there to replace the mighty Lion, another momentous animal which had its glorious place within the country’s national representation. As a matter of fact a statue of Lion has neither been at that spot nor removed from its state. But aside from remains of history one can also notice that there had not been as such significant place Lion had in most recent decades in Arat Kilo especially after the fall of His Imperial Majesty.
The hall known as “Shengo Hall” where the Peacock statue is placed was built by the Dergue regime at a cost of close to 20 million USD and inaugurated in 1987. After years of abandonment and serving occasionally it gets a stunning refurbishing with the current Prime Minister’s palace renovation flagship project.
At this juncture, it is good to note that as a nation that enjoys the importance of mass conventions, Ethiopia still lacks large convention halls and even those few like, the Millennium Hall and the National Cultural Center Hall, were both built in rush to serve an urgent needs of two different occasions – the former to endorse the current federal constitution and the later to mark Ethiopia’s second Millennial fiesta.
Nevertheless it is also good to pay attention to some of these insightful concerns that Peacock might be taking over the Lion’s place, because these comments are coming as there has been an ongoing symbolic battles to alter location, and misplace identities and historic events throughout the past seven decades marking a legacy of the change of political and ideological regimes in the country. Yet taking the premier’s strong desire to preserve the national historical treasures that has been demonstrated at least through the palace renovation project into account, it is hard to buy the idea that Lion’s state would vanish all a sudden.
Lion attaches its mighty importance to Ethiopian state mainly during the monarchial period and it had long been considered a national animal of the state. The courage and confidence that this animal shows while approaching its enemies, and its social character as well as its ability to defend its pride is believed to be the reason why it is celebrated as the national animal. Likewise the Peacock has been a magnificent bird across many cultures. In popular legends of India, for instance, when the Peacock displays its glorious plume, it is considered as a sign of
rain. Its resplendent beauty is also taken as a source of inspiration for literature. This bird is also the possessor of most admired human characteristics like integrity. For example, in Buddhist philosophy the Peacock represents wisdom.
Taking the factors that contribute to differential responses to national symbols in today’s devolving political spectrum of the country, this writer observes the difficulty of finding a single national animal in Ethiopia that could enhance national identification and the promotion of group unity at an unconscious level. Even at the look of the two Peacock statues some went far beyond hypothesizing the Prime Minister’s despise to Lion by mentioning the symbolism he used in his book – “Erkabna Menber”. While others suggested for the Donkey statue, an animal the premier appeared fond of its diligence in this same book.
Arguably Ethiopians feeling of close attachment to the state has been a powerful organizing force that has been a facet of all successful past historical events. However other forms of national attachment which scholars describe as primitive forms of national attachment, such as attachment to tribes, chiefdoms, or states, may have been shading the greater sense of belongingness to the country.
The Ethiopian Herald May 5/2020
BY KIRAM TADESSE
