Heligan

Our pelican is named after a famous garden in Cornwall but has never been there. She came from the much lamented shop West of Java, that spent a brief sojourn in my part of Oxford. In the Christian tradition, a pelican is a powerful symbol of Christ's Passion, representing sacrifice as the pelican was thought to peck at her breast to produce blood for her young when no other food was available. There are also various Old Testament references to the pelican as a symbol of desolation, loneliness and distress e.g. Psalm 102 verse 6: I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert (King James version).

And that's my 75th blip - thank you for visiting :-)