arrowhead

The Legend of the Sand Dollar poem and the Christmas season both have Jesus in common. There are a few varieties of sand dollar and the legend seems to have been written about one in particular – the Keyhole sand dollar.

sand dollar on beach — Keyhole sand dollar on the beach

The Keyhole sand dollar has 5 holes in it where the anonymous author of the poem writes: “.. four nail holes and a fifth one made by a Roman’s spear”, speaking of the death of Jesus on the Cross.

The sea cookie, sea biscuit and arrowhead don’t have all those holes. But they do contain the “doves” inside which fits with this part of the poem: “Now break the center open and here you will release the five white doves awaiting to spread good will and peace.”

sand dollar and dove — Sea Cookie with “Dove”

The five doves are the jaws, or teeth, part of the sand dollar, but they actually do look a lot like doves.

The Legend also describes a “star” on one side and a Christmas poinsettia on the other. The star shape is easy to find on the top of all sand dollars and I don’t have a picture of the underside of the Keyhole type, but here you can see the bottom of my Arrowhead.

bottom of sand dollar — Bottom of the Arrowhead Sand Dollar

Florida keyhole sand dollar — My Sand Dollar Gift

White Sand Dollars — Arrowhead, Sea Biscuit and Sea Cookie

It’s not difficult to find the “Legend of the Sand Dollar” online, but they are not all the same. This one at Poetry Place is worded quite differently than the one at Quality Shells, but the message is still the same – a reminder of the birth (star) and death (holes) of Jesus and the doves that will fly off to spread Peace.

Read More of My Recent Blog Posts

Round White Sand Dollar Home Decor Pillow
by millhill

Because I have a few big sand dollars myself, I will include pictures of the ones in my collection to highlight the different types of sand dollars you may find while beach-combing.

I have three whole sand dollars, although the little one is slightly broken. We may call them shells, but they are not. They are ‘tests’ and are really the outer skeletons of the creature who made them. They are really echinoderms, like the sea urchin, sea cucumber and sea star (starfish). And they don’t start off white. Once the animal dies, the sand wears off their fuzzy outer coating, and the sun bleaches them. In life, they are colorful and can be green, purple, or brown.

In my photo here on the left, is the large, four inch arrowhead. It is flat and has a series of lines on the backside. I can hear the “jaws” rattling around inside. Those jaws are what move to digest the sand dollar’s food.

There are different types of sand dollars. The keyhole sand dollar is similar to the arrowhead, but has five small holes. The notched sand dollar has holes along the edge.

The holes are used in part for helping the creature sink into the sand, where it lives and feeds.

three-sand-dollars — The arrowhead and sea biscuit / sea cookie sand dollars

The little sea cookie is very fragile, and is broken as you can see. Sand dollars are delicate and will break easier than most shells. If you find a whole one on the beach, wrap it in something to carefully bring it home to clean. If a sand dollar is buried in the sand, it may still be alive, so leave it there!

Sea cookie sand dollar — “Sea Cookie” Sand Dollar

Sea biscuit sand dollar — Large Sea Biscuit – Buy products with this image.

The keyhole sand dollar below was found on a Florida beach. A woman walked up to me and said, “Here, would you like this sand dollar?” Or something like that. So I said “Sure!” We were both walking near Ponce Inlet at Smyrna Dunes Park.

Sand Dollars For the Home

For the love of sand dollars, decorate a coastal home. My own sand dollar images have been used for the pillows, blanket, and Christmas stocking and ornament below.