What is a Christmas Pteri supposed to be?

[wifi]

Ok, so perhaps this is a really dumb question and I'm just completely useless, but how does the Xmas Pteri relate to Christmas? It just looks like a robin or something to me :mellow: Is it supposed to look like a reindeer?

[leverhelven]

According to Neocolours:

 

"The Christmas Pteri, rather than being candy-cane striped or having reindeer prongs attached, is based on the European Robin. They are often seen around Christmas and appear on Christmas cards."

 

So... yeah. :mellow:

[siniri]

There's a Christmas story about the robin (a fable about why it has a red chest). I guess that story has fallen out of popularity recently.

[Anime]

It's a more British association, so I'm not surprised people are a little confused by it, but robins are considered Christmas birds. They even appear on cards sold in the US, though here they have a more "winter" connotation than a specifically "Christmas" one.

[nicolelouise]

Being an Australian, I don't even have the winter connotations in my personal life to connect with, however I have lived long enough to be familiar with this kind of representation because all of the Northern Hemishpere winter and Christmas concepts are somehow strangely embraced by a good chunk of those of us living in countries that are actually going to be HOT at Christmas... anyway, I digress. I think my daughter wouldn't get it, but I'm old enough to know.

[just4dailies]

I relate cardinals to winter/Christmas more than I do robins so the pteri doesn't seem very Christmas like to me.

[frogadelic]

I relate cardinals to winter/Christmas more than I do robins so the pteri doesn't seem very Christmas like to me.

Yes, I agree. Around here the robins all go south at winter, so it's only the cardinals that we would see at Christmas. Also, cardinals are red and red is a Christmas color. Lol anyway....

[pulpfreeoj]

I suppose cardinals are very much a North America thing. They're on decorations and cards and everything all over. Did you ever notice that usually you don't see depictions of more than one male cardinal together? That's because males are very territorial. Also, European robins are in a totally different Family from American robins, which are actually a type of thrush. And the Japanese robin is more closely related to the European robin.

 

 

Being an Australian, I don't even have the winter connotations in my personal life to connect with, however I have lived long enough to be familiar with this kind of representation because all of the Northern Hemishpere winter and Christmas concepts are somehow strangely embraced by a good chunk of those of us living in countries that are actually going to be HOT at Christmas... anyway, I digress. I think my daughter wouldn't get it, but I'm old enough to know.

I always wondered how that even worked for people in the southern hemisphere who celebrate Christmas.

[Bloods_Mistress]

I love christmas robins! they look so beautiful against the snow

[wifi]

Ha, for some reason I was totally oblivious to the whole winter robin thing, even though I'm originally from the States! It still seems really out of place among all the other Xmas neopets though...