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The peace sign is a widely recognized symbol used across the globe. It's straightforward to create, either by forming the gesture with your hand or by drawing the symbol on paper. However, it's important to understand that the peace sign may carry different interpretations.
Instructions
Creating a Peace Sign with Your Hand
Keep one hand open. Select the hand you want to use for making the peace sign and extend it in front of you, with your palm facing outward. Then, follow these steps:
- Spread apart all your fingers except your index and middle fingers, curling them inward toward your palm as if forming a fist.
- Ensure your thumb rests over your other fingers. Next, lift your index and middle fingers, forming a 'V' shape. The index finger should be closest to your thumb. This gesture represents the standard peace sign made with your hand.
- Your extended index and middle fingers should create a recognizable 'V' shape.
Ensure your palm faces away from your body. Keep your clenched fingers and palm directed away from your body. This is crucial.
- If your palm faces inward towards yourself, the gesture might be offensive in certain cultures, akin to a double middle finger.
- Ensure both your index finger and middle finger extend simultaneously. Initiating with the middle finger first could convey a highly negative meaning in English (and many other languages).
- Avoid extending your pinky finger; this also carries an alternative, vulgar interpretation.
Raise your hand. When executed properly, the peace sign emerged as a symbol of counterculture during the Vietnam War. Most individuals raise their hand in the air while making the gesture.
- Some interpret the symbol as a plea for the cessation of war, while others view it as a general call for global peace.
- Several politicians have employed the sign with both hands while lifting both arms (e.g., Richard Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower).
- However, this gesture can evoke clichés associated with Nixon. Many individuals simply raise one arm when making the sign.
Form a “V” sign for victory. To some, the peace sign resembles a “V” sign symbolizing victory, particularly in times of war. This V sign is made by raising the two fingers closest to the thumb in a V shape.
- The hand used doesn’t matter. Allied forces popularized this hand signal to denote victory during World War II.
- Figures like Winston Churchill used the sign to signify triumph. Similarly, Nixon utilized it in the context of Vietnam. Subsequently, protesters opposing the Vietnam War adopted the same sign, vocalizing “peace” while making it to protest the conflict. They aimed to transform the hand gesture into a symbol of peace.
- It’s important to acknowledge that this hand signal holds significance in both the anti-war movement and in symbolizing victory during wartime.
Create the Vulcan peace sign. This symbol is another hand gesture originating from the television series, Star Trek. Its meaning conveys “live long and prosper.”
- To make it, press together the two fingers nearest to your thumb while simultaneously pressing together the two fingers farthest from your thumb.
- When performed correctly, the center of your hand will form the “V” shape created by your fingers. Ensure your thumb remains extended outward during this action.
- Historically, the Vulcan was a pagan deity, a sun god associated with potent energies like thunderbolts.
Illustrating a Peace Sign
Create a peace symbol through drawing or sketching. In addition to the hand gesture, some people associate a “peace symbol” with the concept of peace. It's a depiction rather than a gesture.
- To craft this symbol, begin by drawing a circle. For a precise circle, you may trace around a circular object, like a roll of tape or the base of a cup.
- Draw two vertical lines down the center of the circle to form a bar. Use a ruler to ensure both edges of the lines are equidistant from the circle's center.
- The width of the lines should match that of the outer circle. This peace symbol, as a symbol of peace, originated in 1958 when it was drawn by a graduate of the Royal College of Arts in England to protest nuclear war.
Position your pen or pencil directly at the midpoint. Begin at the midpoint of each vertical line.
- Draw two diagonal lines extending outward from the midpoint to the outer circle.
- Create an inner circle within the larger one, maintaining the same width from the outer circle and including the inner lines.
- Connect the lines of the inner circle to the bars without intersecting them.
Utilize a compass to fashion the peace symbol. A compass aids in achieving a perfect circle, while a straight edge ensures straight lines.
- With the compass, mark a point and then form a circle around it. Reduce the compass's diameter and draw a second circle within the first.
- Using the straight edge, draw a vertical line down the circle's center. Then, draw another vertical line down the circle's center.
- Employ the straight edge to draw diagonal lines from the midpoint of each vertical line to the circle's outer edges, forming an inverted V that occupies the lower half of the circle. Subsequently, erase all lines within the shapes created.
Sketch a dove. The white dove serves as another traditional emblem of peace. Depicting a white dove typically signifies peace.
- To reinforce its meaning, depict an olive branch in the dove's beak. However, like peace signs, doves may carry varied interpretations.
- In Christianity, doves represent the Holy Spirit. Historically, doves have symbolized freedom. Doves are released at weddings as symbols of purity and to mark the beginning of a new life.
- Ancient Greeks believed that the olive branch warded off evil spirits. The dove with an olive branch is also seen as a symbol of hope alongside peace.
Understanding Various Interpretations of Peace Symbols
Be mindful of the dual meanings associated with the peace symbol. The peace sign and symbol carry complex historical connotations that can be interpreted differently across cultures and religions.
- Today, the drawn peace symbol is commonly understood as a universal symbol of peace or an expression of anti-war sentiment.
- In Britain, it's often associated with nuclear disarmament, while elsewhere it's seen as a broader call for peace. However, throughout history, it has also been co-opted for darker purposes.
- For instance, Hitler’s 3rd Panzer Division adopted the peace symbol, and it appears on the tombstones of some SS soldiers.
Acknowledge the Christian symbolism. Some Christians have reservations about the drawn peace symbol due to its historical implications.
- In 711 AD, the Saracens used it as an anti-Christian symbol, displaying it on their shields to convey their ability to conquer Christianity.
- The upside-down cross was initially a Christian symbol representing Peter the Apostle's request for crucifixion with his head downwards. However, anti-Christian groups later appropriated it to signify opposition to Christianity.
- Various entities, including certain heavy metal bands and proponents of Communism, have adopted the symbol. Additionally, the founder of the Church of Satan featured it on an altar.
Utilize the peace symbol as a form of artistic expression. The peace symbol frequently appears in artwork, tattoos, and on apparel and signage, often serving as a symbol of anti-war sentiment.
- Following the Paris terrorist attacks, an artist incorporated the Eiffel Tower into the peace symbol, creating an image known as “Peace for Paris.”
- In American Sign Language, the peace sign signifies the number “2.” In Asia, it gained popularity due to a peace activist ice skater and was featured in Japanese television commercials during the 1970s. Its presence in Japanese culture dates back to the 1960s hippie movement and is now commonly flashed in photographs.
- Some individuals associate religious significance with the peace sign or 'V' sign, linking it to resistance against authority and the Roman numeral “V” representing the number 5.
Recommendations
- Many individuals incorporate the symbol into photographs.
- Use it to convey a desire for peace.
Cautions
- Avoid flipping your hand. In certain regions, presenting the 'peace sign' with the back of your hand facing outward is considered a disrespectful gesture.
- Ensure your index finger remains raised.
