Dove

The dove (and its close relative the pigeon) was common, gentle, and affordable — the offering the law allowed for those too poor to bring a lamb, which is exactly what Mary and Joseph presented for the infant Jesus.

It enters the story early: after the Flood, Noah's dove returned with an olive leaf, the first sign that judgment was over and life could begin again — fixing the dove and the olive branch as the world's enduring emblem of peace. Its gentleness also made it a picture of innocence; Jesus told his disciples to be “harmless as doves.”

Most strikingly, at Jesus' baptism the Holy Spirit descended “like a dove” and rested on him. The dove therefore came to represent the Spirit himself — peace after judgment, purity, and the gentle, settling presence of God.