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in Celtic lore to be the oldest of creatures, except for the salmon which is described in Chapter 8. The Celtic Owl goddess was called Scathach, goddess of the Isle of Skye. Sometimes the owl was called the old white wife because of its links with the banshee, the protective family spirit whose owl-like wail- ing was said to herald death, especially if a white owl flew against the window while a person inside the house was sick. The white owl was one of the forms taken by Gwynn app Nydd, Celtic god of the underworld, who guarded the entrance on top of Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, said to be the isle of Avalon in Arthurian legend. It ruled the souls of slain warriors. In Wales the owl is a symbol of fertility and easy childbirth. In Japanese folklore, the omens varied according to the kind of owl. The eagle owl as messenger of the gods symbolized wisdom and favor from the gods. The screech owl was friend to the hunter. Only the call of the Horned Owl heralded misfortune. In New Zealand, owls, especially white ones, are seen in Maori tradition as guardian spirits and noble ancestors. 72 Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols PARROT According to the Amahuaca of Eastern Peru, fire was stolen by a parrot from the giant Yowashiko, who had refused to share his gift with humankind. Though Yowashiko tried to drown the parrot with rain storms, larger birds shielded him with their wings and kept the gift safe. The parrot is the news bringer and revealer of secrets in Afro-Caribbean lore. Among the Yanomami people of the Amazonian basin, parrot feathers are especially prized for their healing and protective properties, and tame parrots are kept in the villages as a source of feathers. The feathers are attached to arrows and sent into the skies to ask the deities for healing and to bring abundance to the village. In Pueblo Indian myth, the parrot is a bird of the sun and a bringer of abundance. There are now more than 300 species of parrots in the wild, though a large number have been domesticated. Kamadeva, Hindu god of love, who had a bow strung with humming bees, rode on a huge parrot as he flew through the skies shooting his arrows of love. PEACOCK The peacock was the bird of the Greek Hera and Juno, Roman Mother goddess, both of whom were goddess of joy and marriage. If a peacock spreads its tail feathers before your eyes, it is told that love, happiness, and prosperity will follow. A Greco-Roman myth in Ovid s Metamorphoses tells how the eyes of the hero Argus were placed in the tail feathers of Hera/Juno s special peacock. Zeus, or Jupiter, seduced the nymph Io, and to hide her from his angry wife turned her into a cow. However, Hera/Juno saw through the deceit and made Argus, her servant, guard the cow. Her servant had a hundred eyes, only two of which closed in sleep. The messenger god Hermes/Mercury used his staff of snakes to bring sleep upon Argus and then decapitated him. Hera/Juno took the eyes, put them in the feathers of her beloved peacock, and filled the tail with jewels in his memory. As the old pagan gods and goddesses became discredited with the spread of Christianity, the eyes on the tail feathers were unfairly regarded as the evil eye. For this reason, peacock feathers are rarely brought indoors. RAVEN In Norse myth, ravens were the birds of Odin, the Norse All-Father. His two ravens, Hugin and Mugin (Mind and Memory), sat on his shoulders and Fabulous Birds and Other Winged Creatures 73 the Vikings carried Odin s raven Banners into battle. These banners could be made only by the virgin daughters of Viking hero-warriors, and the raven on the banner appeared to come to life during the battle, striking terror into enemies. Sometimes the banner was pure white, and the raven would appear on it. It was said that if the raven moved, victory was assured, but the person carrying the banner would not return. Such banners were also recorded as being carried by Danish Vikings invading Belgium and northern France in the ninth and tenth centuries. The raven was likewise the sacred bird of Bran, the Celtic god-king. Ravens are still kept at the Tower of London because legend says that if they leave their sacred place (the Tower) London will be destroyed and England will be invaded. That is because, as Bran lay dying, he ordered that his head be cut off (warrior heads were greatly prized by the Celts as a source of strength) and buried beneath the White Mound, now beneath the White Tower in the Tower of London. His seven sacred ravens were set to guard the head. In the Bible the raven was one of the birds sent out by Noah to find land, but he did not return. ROBIN Several European legends explain why the robin has a red breast. One says that he burned it in the fires of hell bringing water to lost souls. Oth- ers claim it was stained with the blood of Christ as the robin pulled the thorns from Christ s Crown. A third version says that the robin covered the dead with leaves, and as he was covering Christ, he was touched by his blood. The robin is so beloved in England that he is protected by various prohi- bitions. One old rhyme says If a robin you dare kill, Your right hand will straightway lose its skill. The robin, especially the first robin of spring, can grant wishes. For good luck in the twelve months ahead, you need to make your wishes before the robin flies away. SEAGULL Seagulls are said to be the souls of dead sailors and so should never be shot. Storm petrels, known as Mother Carey s chickens, are also especially protected 74 Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols by sailors. If a gull settles on any part of a ship in which a person is traveling, the voyage will be a happy one. In Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, there is a monument to the California Gull in front of the State Capitol Building. Soon after the Mor- mons came to the area, a plague of millions of crickets appeared and were destroying the crops. The Mormons prayed for help, and thousands of California Gulls arrived and consumed the crickets. SWALLOWS AND MARTINS The swallow was sacred to Isis, the Ancient Egyptian Mother goddess, and also to Venus and Aphrodite, the Classical goddesses of Love. Like the stork in Swedish tradition, at the time of the crucifixion the swallow flew over the cross, calling svala, svala, which means console. The coming of the swal- lows has been regarded in many lands as a symbol of awakening after winter and of the renewal of life since early times. The swallow, like the wren, was a bird associated with bringing fire from the heavens to humans. In American Indian lore, the swallow carried the fire from the sun on her tail feathers. She has red tail feathers and a forked tail because that was where she got burned. A legend associated with alchemy that grew up in Europe in the Middle Ages tells us that the swallow carried the flowering herb celandine in her beak [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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