Bluebird of happiness
Encyclopedia
Bluebird
The bluebirds are a group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Sialia of the thrush family . Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. They have blue, or blue and red, plumage...
of happiness has deep roots that go back thousands of years. Indigenous cultures across the globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
hold similar myths and beliefs about the bluebird. It is a widely accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc. Virtually any positive sentiments may be attached to the bluebird.
In magical symbolism, bluebirds are used to represent confidence in the positive aspect and egotism in the negative. A dead bluebird is a symbol of disillusionment, of the loss of innocence, and of transformation from the younger and naive to the older and wiser.
Bluebird symbolism in America
In American symbolism, "bluebird" refers to true thrushes (Turdidae) of the genusGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Sialia, in particular the Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
The Mountain Bluebird is a medium-sized bird weighing about 2-5 ounces, with a length from 15–20 cm . They have light underbellies and black eyes. Adult males have thin bills are bright turquoise-blue and somewhat lighter beneath. Adult females have duller blue wings and tail, grey breast,...
(S. currucoides) which is almost completely bright blue.
Many Native American tribes considered the bluebird sacred.
According to the Cochiti tribe, the firstborn son of Sun was named Bluebird. In the tale "The Sun's Children" from Tales of the Cochiti Indians
Tales of the Cochiti Indians
Tales of the Cochiti Indians is a 1931 work by by Ruth Benedict. It collects the folk tales of the Cochiti Puebloan peoples in New Mexico. The book is considered an important work in the discipline of feminist anthropology...
(1932) by Ruth Benedict
Ruth Benedict
Ruth Benedict was an American anthropologist, cultural relativist, and folklorist....
: "She nursed him until the Sun father came back. Sun returned to the girl, and the girl offered the child to him, saying, 'Here is your baby. It is a little boy.' They named him Bluebird (Culutiwa)."
The Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
hold the Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
The Mountain Bluebird is a medium-sized bird weighing about 2-5 ounces, with a length from 15–20 cm . They have light underbellies and black eyes. Adult males have thin bills are bright turquoise-blue and somewhat lighter beneath. Adult females have duller blue wings and tail, grey breast,...
to be a great spirit in animal form and associate it with the rising sun. The Bluebird Song is sung to remind tribe members to wake at dawn and rise to greet the sun:
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- Bluebird said to me,
- "Get up, my grandchild.
- It is dawn," it said to me.
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The Bluebird Song is still used in social settings and is also performed in the nine-day Ye'iibicheii winter Nightway ceremony. It is the most revered song, as well as the closing act, performed just before sunrise on the final day.
A popular song titled "Bluebird of Happiness
Bluebird of Happiness (song)
"Bluebird of Happiness" is a song composed in 1934 by Sandor Harmati, with words by Edward Heyman and additional lyrics by Harry Parr-Davies.Harmati wrote the song for his friend, the tenor Jan Peerce, the leading singer at Radio City Music Hall...
" was written by Sandor Harmati
Sandor Harmati
Sandor Harmati was a Hungarian-American violinist, conductor and composer, best known for his song "Bluebird of Happiness" written in 1934 for Jan Peerce.-Biography:...
and Edward Heyman
Edward Heyman
Edward Heyman was an American musician and lyricist, best known for his compositions "Body and Soul", "When I Fall in Love", and "For Sentimental Reasons". He also contributed many songs for films.-Biography:...
in 1934. It was recorded twice by Jan Peerce
Jan Peerce
Jan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce....
, becoming his "signature tune". It was also recorded by Art Mooney and His Orchestra, and others.
The bluebird of happiness is also mentioned in the film K-Pax
K-PAX
K-PAX is the name of the first novel in the K-PAX series by Gene Brewer and a film based on the series:*K-PAX **K-PAX – film*K-PAX II: On a Beam of Light *K-PAX III: Worlds of Prot...
, as all the patients in the ward await the arrival of the blue bird.
The song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from the "Wizard of Oz" refers to the bluebird of happiness as well.
In the film Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird the Sleaze Brothers kidnap Big Bird
Big Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
and put him in their fun fair. They paint him blue and bill him as the Blue Bird of Happiness. However, Big Bird's act has him singing a contradictory sad song, "No Wonder I'm So Blue."
The Disney film "The Rescuers" has a scene in which the bluebird is a symbol of faith, "Faith is a bluebird you see from afar..."
In the They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
song Birdhouse in Your Soul
Birdhouse in Your Soul
"Birdhouse in Your Soul" is a song by American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It was released in March 1990 as a single from the album Flood. It reached #3 on the United States Modern Rock Tracks chart and #6 on the UK Singles Chart and remains their highest-charting single in both...
, John Linnell
John Linnell
John Sidney Linnell is an American musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants...
's lyrics play around with the concept in the phrase "Blue bird of friendliness."
The bluebird is mentioned at the end of the 1968 Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
movie, Yellow Submarine with the Blue Meanie
Blue Meanie
-In fiction:* Blue Meanies , fictional music-hating creatures in the films Yellow Submarine and Across the Universe* Blue Meanies, fictional cat-like creatures in Katherine Applegate's book series Remnants...
leader saying, "You know I've never admitted it before, but my cousin is the bluebird of happiness".
Bluebird symbolism in Europe
Old World flycatcher
The Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae is a large family of small passerine birds mostly restricted to the Old World. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing.-Characteristics:...
) which occurs from the Mediterranean region eastwards. Its adult male is the only European passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird with all-blue plumage. In general, there are very few small birds in the western Palaearctic that have any conspicuous amount of blue in their plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
. The widespread Bluethroat
Bluethroat
The Bluethroat is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae...
(Luscinia svecica) and the Azure Tit
Azure Tit
The Azure Tit, Cyanistes cyanus , is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout Russia and central Asia....
(Cyanistes cyanus) from Russia and adjacent regions are notable exceptions.
Bluebird mythology in Europe is noted in a fairy tale called L'Oiseau Bleu (The Blue Bird) by Madame d'Aulnoy
Madame d'Aulnoy
Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy , also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French writer known for her fairy tales...
(1650–1705). This seems to be the root source of most modern accounts of bluebird symbolism and myth. In this tale, King Charming
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell...
is transformed into a bluebird, who is the love interest of the younger princess Fiordelisa and aids her through her trials.
The Blue Bird was made into a 1908 stage play by Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
and into several films throughout the 20th century
The Blue Bird (film)
Maurice Maeterlinck's 1908 play The Blue Bird has been adapted numerous times for film and television:*The Blue Bird , a silent film starring Pauline Gilmer and Olive Walter...
, including the 1940 original
The Blue Bird (1940 film)
The Blue Bird is a 1940 American fantasy film directed by Walter Lang. The screenplay by Walter Bullock was adapted from the 1908 play of the same name by Maurice Maeterlinck...
starring Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, Gale Sondergaard
Gale Sondergaard
Gale Sondergaard was an American actress.Sondergaard began her acting career in theatre, and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut in Anthony Adverse...
, Spring Byington
Spring Byington
Spring Byington was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a key MGM contract player appearing in films from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:Byington was born Spring Dell Byington in Colorado Springs,...
and Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce
William Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
. The story begins with two child heroes, Tyltyl and Mytyl, whom are sent out by the fairy
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
Bérylune (Jessie Ralph
Jessie Ralph
Jessie Ralph was an American stage and screen actress, best known for her matronly roles in many classic motion pictures....
) into various lands to search for the Bluebird of Happiness. Returning home empty-handed, the children see that the bird has been in a cage in their home the whole time. When Myltyl gives the bird as a present to a sick neighbor (Angela), the bird flies away. But the moral is that the search for happiness is ongoing, and it is to be found within oneself.
In Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n fairy tales, the bluebird is a traditional symbol of hope. In more recent times, Anton Denikin characterized the Ice March
Ice March
The Ice March , also called the First Kuban Campaign , a military withdrawal lasting from February to May 1918, was one of the defining moments in the Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1921...
of the defeated Volunteer Army
Volunteer Army
The Volunteer Army was an anti-Bolshevik army in South Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920....
in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
as follows:
We went from the dark night of spiritual slavery to unknown wandering-in search of the bluebird.