Sand Dollar Meaning: Have you ever come across a sand dollar when walking along the shore on the beach? It’s pretty rare to find one fully intact so when you do, it’s a little hidden treasure. Sand dollars are actually burrowing sea urchins. There are so many legends and stories behind the sand dollar that make the finding of them even more valuable than just a regular beach artifact.
What is the Sand Dollar Meaning?
Below we have mentioned different meaning of Sand Dollar like in Doves, In Dreams, in Spiritual and the facts of the Sand Dollar.
Legend of the Sand Dollar
A fun legend is a mythological legend that sand dollars represent coins that were lost by mermaids. Another one is that they are coins from the people of the mythical city Atlantis.
Legend of the Sand Dollar – Catholic
Have you ever really looked at a sand dollar? It is more than just lines and holes according to Catholic symbolism. The story of the sand dollar according to Catholics is that they represent the story of Christ. The urchin represents the Birth, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus.
On the top of the shell, you will see a star in the center. This represents the Star of Bethlehem. An outline of an Easter Lily is around the star. This represents Jesus’ Resurrection. Four holes are at the edges of the star with another one in the center. These four holes serve as a reminder of the wounds caused from being nailed to the cross. The hole in the center represents the wound to Jesus’ heart by a soldier’s spear. Turning over the sand dollar, you will find an outline of the poinsettia This is the Christmas flower. When you break open the sand dollar, five dove shaped pieces appear.
Sand Dollar Doves Meaning
What are the doves inside a sand Dollar? Five dove-shaped pieces emerge every time you open one of these creatures. Doves represent peace and love. They release goodwill and peace into the world.
Sand Dollar Meaning in Dreams
Many have talked about seeing sand dollars in their dreams. Seeing a sand dollar in your dream means only good things. Seeing one could suggest your emotions matter. Don’t let anyone take that away from you and try to tell you differently. Dreaming about sand dollars shows that you have hidden gifts or abilities that you may have not shown yet.
Sand Dollars Meaning: Spiritual
Sand dollars can represent many things spiritually including choosing your own path, strength, flexibility, and freedom.
Choosing your own path- sand dollars represent freedom and the ability to walk away from environments or people that are no longer working for you.
Strength – Their exterior skeleton protects them from the predators they may experience.
Flexibility – Sand dollars have the flexibility and freedom to go wherever they want to whenever they need a change. Sometimes this is done alone or with others but sand dollars have no problem leaving a situation that doesn’t suit them.
Facts About Sand Dollars
Now that we covered the meanings, and stories behind Sand dollars, here are a few fun facts about the urchins!
Sand dollars are not white when they are alive. The white comes from being bleached by the sun when they are washed up on the sand.
They cannot survive for long outside of water. It is illegal in some states to remove sand dollars from the water. Live sand dollars are usually fuzzy. They are brown, red and have a purplish tint. If you are unsure if one is alive or dead, leave it be.
They use their spines to eat. Sand dollars have spines that are covered in tiny hair like bristles called cilia. This is how they move food particles throughout the sand and into their mouths. It can take them about 15 minutes before swallowing and up to two days to digest their food.
They tend to stick together in groups.
You can tell the age of a sand dollar by the growth rings on their exoskeleton. You can count them like you would with tree rings to get the age of the urchin. Most live 6-10 years.
If water is calm, they may stand vertically and bury their edge in the sand. If the water is rough, they lie flat or hide under the sand. Young sand dollars will even swallow grains of sand to make themselves heavier so it weighs them down.
The next time you are strolling the beautiful beaches of Coastal Alabama, I hope you can come across a few sand dollars! Take a close look at them to see if you can see any of the symbolism that others have talked about. Just make sure that the sea creature isn’t alive before taking it home and doing any dove searching!
So plan your beach getaway with leave only footprints in mind!
[…] dollars aren’t that rare; however, it is pretty rare to find one that is fully intact. People who find a fully intact sand cookie may also consider it a treasure because it is […]