Rooster weathervanes are growing in popularity. Not only are rooster weathervanes the seeming traditional d'cor pieces for an old Americana feel, but the use of a rooster in decorating goes back much further.

Decorating with a rooster initially was very popular on dinnerware, as an honor and homage to a specific rooster.

For this story we are taking a trip back in time, to the time of renaissance Italy. In the town of Forin, lived the Medici's, a very influential and powerful family. They were not against sharing their wealth and as a matter of fact they were preparing to put on a large dinner for all the local peasants when this story takes place. They had invited all the locals onto their land for the event, but not all were there to take part in the good will gesture. As the family slept that night, a group of assassins planned to kill them. They snuck towards the house and prepared to take part in their deadly plan when something stopped them. It was a loud noise that warned the family of the coming threat.

In this time and day there were none of the alarm monitoring systems we have today, there wasn't even electricity. The loud alarm that seemed to have gone off was the family's roosters. While the family was sleeping it seems the roosters in the yard were keeping an eye on things, just in case the sun came up early. As they spotted the motion of the assassins approaching, they started crowing incessantly. The noise woke the family who spotted the assassins, and they were caught.

It's not known if the roosters saw a light the assassins may have been holding to carry out their plan, and thought it was the sun, or if they were just watching out for the family and knew something was amiss, but the family appreciated it. As their way to show gratitude to the birds that saved their lives, they commissioned a set of pitchers that had the roosters face prominently displayed as their way to honor them.

The word of the luck of having roosters spread through Italy and soon everyone wanted items with roosters on them. For many generations, giving someone a pitcher or other piece of dinnerware with a rooster on it was a way to ward off bad luck.

In addition to having roosters on your dinnerware, you could also sport this lucky bird on your roof, with rooster weathervanes, and let him look down over your family, watching for anyone up to no good.

While they can't herald the morning with a cock a doodle do, rooster weathervanes can herald the change of weather by pointing the way and giving you something to crow about as a storm moves in, or nicer weather blows your direction.