Why is Django's (Unofficial) Mascot a Pony?

Officially, the Django logo is a text-only combination of green and white.

But unofficially, the Django mascot is a mythical pony--often a unicorn--which you will see on conference t-shirts, stickers, and even a dedicated djangopony.com website. So, what's up with the pony?

In his DjangoCon 2008 Keynote: Why I Hate Django, Cal Henderson noted that Django needed a mascot and proposed, half-jokingly, that it choose one with magical powers.

Soon after that, Bryan Veloso came up with the first design, and the Django pony was born.

This in-joke within the Django community gained popularity, and the Django pony began appearing at future conferences in various guises. The Django core contributors would even joke about adding "ponies" to Django, meaning a magical, elusive feature that everyone wanted. The reply was often, "No, you can't have a pony!" given the tension of balancing what elements should be included in Django versus kept external.

The pony mascot remains a light-hearted example of the community's culture, openness, and willingness to have fun while working on serious software.