Showing posts with label names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label names. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Petrel


This Petrel shawl is named after the species of bird. Petrel birds are a small web-footed, seawater birds, returning to land only to breed.

The word "petrel" comes from the Latin name for St. Peter, who was said to have walked on water. It refers to the habit of the bird species to hover just above the ocean waves. During a storm, because the birds can't actually *walk* on water, they need to remain in the air day and night, enduring the rough weather over the ocean until the storm passes.

There is a fossil record for Petrel birds assumed to extend back about 60 million years showing that the species has survived through many eras of history, and is still going strong today.

May this shawl, with its wings spread across your back, bring you the strength, perseverance and longevity of the Petrel bird.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Kukui

The Kukui sweater was named after the Aleurites Moluccana tree, also known as the Candlenut Tree. This tree, native to Hawaii, grows the kukui nut.

In Hawaii, kukui is a symbol of enlightenment, protection and peace. It was said that Kamapuaʻa, the hog-man fertility demi-god, could transform into a kukui tree. There is a legend told of a woman who, despite her best efforts to please her husband, was routinely beaten. Finally, the husband beat her to death and buried her under a kukui tree. Being a kind and just woman, she was given new life, and the husband was eventually killed.