🪓 Bury the Hatchet, To 🌿
To “bury the hatchet” means to make peace or call a truce. Imagine two fierce rivals who have finally decided that arguing is exhausting and they’d rather hit the peace hammock than each other! This phrase roots back to a custom of some North American Indian tribes, who physically buried a tomahawk to mark the end of hostilities. Samuel Sewell swung by with an account of this in 1680, and even Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Hiawatha” poem piles metaphorical dirt atop.
Synonyms:
- Make amends
- Call a truce
- Kiss and makeup (minus the lipstick)
- Come to terms
Antonyms:
- Hold a grudge
- Fan the flames
- Stir the pot
Related Expressions:
- Let bygones be bygones
- End of the line
- Ceasefire
- Mend fences
- Smooth things over
Humorous Quotes:
- “It’s hard to throw stones when you’re busy burying a hatchet.” — Anonymous
- “I don’t hold a grudge; I destroy them with my peaceful gardening skills.” — Hysterical Harold
Proverbs:
- “A man who seeks revenge should dig two graves—one for his enemy and one for himself.” — old proverb
Literature, Books, Songs, Poetry, and Movies:
- The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1855) — Both a literary masterpiece and an idiom’s dance floor.
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (2001) — Speaking of buried hatchets, this novel’s themes revolve around forgiveness and reconciliation.
- Joy in Peace talks can be heard in “Let There Be Peace on Earth” by Jill Jackson Miller (1955).
- For a movie angle: Miss Congeniality (2000) — A beauty pageant and an FBI agent, surely they can bury the hatchet?
Fun Facts:
- The literal burial of a hatchet in peace ceremonies underscores the significant symbolism of physically disarming oneself.
- Hatchets have been borrowed in numerous recruitment posters and marches for peace movements.
Intriguing Thought:
Burying the hatchet is not merely an act of burying hostility; it symbolizes actively sowing seeds of harmony that might blossom into the future!
Here’s an intriguing quiz to test your newly minted hatchet-burying prowess:
Farewell 🌟
May you courageously dig up strife and plant seeds of peace wherever life pits you.
— Lexi Loreweaver
