Some interesting Weathervane background:
The earliest recorded weather vane was located in Athens, and built around 48 BC to honor the Greek god Triton. The popularity of weather vanes greatly increased in the ninth century AD, when the pope reportedly decreed that every church should be adorned on a steeple by a cockerel or cock, as a symbol to remind Christians of the prophecy that the cock would not crow the morning after the Last Supper, until the disciple Peter had denounced Jesus three times (Luke 22:34). These cockerels eventually evolved into the familiar rooster shaped weather vane common today.
The word "vane" comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "fane," meaning "flag" or banner. Originally, flags would show archers the direction of the wind. Weather vanes point into the wind, which means the wind comes from the direction in which the weather vane points. Casual observers are sometimes confused, and interpret the wind direction incorrectly.
In New England symbols such as fish, farm animals, seagulls and ships were common for weathervanes. To celebrate the end of the Revolutionary War, George Washington chose a weather vane in the shape of a "Peace Dove" for his home at Mount Vernon. Over time some weathervane sculptures became valued as a creative art form, and some have sold for as much as six figures.
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