Fish in the Cultures of the World: From the Symbol of Life to the Divine Essence Fish is more than food. Since ancient times, it has been a symbol of fertility, wisdom, rebirth, and even the divine. In the cultures of all continents, fish appears as a mythological character, ritual object, astrological sign, and gastronomic code. Its path in human history is unique: it has fed, healed, inspired, and frightened. Today, when we look at an aquarium or order sushi, we even don't think that behind this simple action there are thousands of years of symbolic interpretation. How did fish become such a universal symbol and what does it mean for different peoples? Fish as the Ancestor of All Living Things In many mythologies of the world, fish appears as the primordial being from which the earth or even the entire universe originated. In Indian mythology, the god Vishnu in his first manifestation — Matsya — took the form of a fish to save humanity from the flood. In ancient Babylon, fish was associated with the god Ea, the ruler of the waters, who gave people knowledge. In some Siberian shamanic traditions, it is believed that the earth is held up by three whales or giant fish swimming in the boundless ocean. This cosmogonic aspect emphasizes the main point: fish is not just a dweller in water, but a carrier of sacred power. The water in which it lives was perceived as primordial chaos, and the fish as one who knows how to navigate and even create in it. This is why it is associated with wisdom, which is not accessible to terrestrial beings. Christian Symbolism: Fish as the Sign of Salvation Perhaps the most famous symbolic fish in the world is the ichthys, an early Christian acrostic. The Greek word ICHTHYS (fish) was deciphered as “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” In the first centuries of our era, when Christians were persecuted, the image of a fish served as a secret recognition sign. One Christian could draw a curve on the sand, and another, seeing it, would und ... Read more