In the park of Eggenberg Schloss, Graz, Austria when the mating season calls, peacocks, well... are busy in peacocking! They display their elongated upper tail coverts—a magnificent green and gold erectile train adorned with blue-green 'eyes', trying to get the female's attention. If there are no peahens around, it looks that every female is good for a showy display of the mating dance. As it happened to these young moms, who had to wait for the gaudy male to do his dance, before being allowed to go on along the hillock. The peacock was associated with the Middle Eastern deity, Tammuz, consort of the goddess, Anat. In Greece, it was sacred to Hera, queen of heaven and lawful wife of Zeus - a pair of them drew her chariot -, and they were kept at her temples. In the Roman Empire, peacocks were Juno's birds and on coins symbolized the females of the ruling houses, the lineage princesses. The peacock's tail feathers are considered as linked to Bad Luck or an Evil Eye. Belief in the evil eye is strongest in the Middle East, East and West Africa, Central America, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean region; it has also spread to other areas, including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by European colonists and Middle Eastern immigrants. Disks or balls, consisting of concentric blue and white circles (usually, from inside to outside, dark blue, light blue, white, dark blue) representing an evil eye are common apotropaic talismans in the Middle East, found on the prows of Mediterranean boats and elsewhere; in some forms of the folklore, the staring eyes are supposed to bend the malicious gaze back to the sorcerer (like the mirror with Medusa's gaze). Probably the ancient Greek legend about the origin of the 'eyes' of the peacock tail sacred to Hera, mixed up with the transformations of the ancient Egyptian 'eye' of the hawk god Horus became congealed into the Middle Eastern talisman in the form of a protective 'eye'. In a Christian setting the protective 'eye' taliman as well as the peacock's 'eyes' were submitted to an inversion of meaning and became bringers of Bad Luck and Evil Eye. This is my opinion about it.If you know a different explanation, feel free to share it! Thanks for your kind comments.