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Author
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Comment
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Jessica
Unregistered User
(10/7/02 2:22:18 pm)
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Owls in Myth
Hey all, a question. I'm doing a research paper in Myth and Folklore about (drumroll) the owl in myth. Can anyone recommend likely sources? After deciding on the animal, gleefully sure of the wealth of interesting folk lore, I've been thwarted by the library at every turn.
--Jessica
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Gail
Unregistered User
(10/7/02 2:51:04 pm)
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2 resources
Two resources on folklore and owls:
Holmgren, Virginia C. Owls in Folklore and Natural History. Capra Press, 1988
Cenzato, Elena and FAbio Santopietro. Owls: Art, Legend, History. The Bulfinch Library of Collectibles. Little, Brown & Co., 1990.
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Munin
Registered User
(10/7/02 4:11:15 pm)
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*thinks*
Some arthurian myths tell that merlin has an owl as a pet.This might be because the owl symbolizes something or other in alchemy codes. Different native american tribes also hold the owl in different esteems. The books listed by gail prolly mention these facts but this might help you find some other sources while you look for those.
Edited by: Munin at: 10/8/02 3:20:36 am
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Lizzi
Unregistered User
(10/8/02 1:31:41 am)
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The reality of owls
I'm amazed at the wise old owl lore since I have acquaintances who work with and have studied the live specimens. They are very dim in real life as they don't need to be anything else since they are the top of their food tree.
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(10/8/02 5:09:34 am)
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owls as dim
I wonder about that "very dim in real life" as my husband the birder and bird recordist wouldn't say any such thing.
Athena had an owl I think.
Jane
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Jess
Unregistered User
(10/8/02 6:05:32 am)
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Athena
Yes, Athena's "animal" was the owl, which may be the source of the wisdom association. You may want to look at later Greek mythology though because I think the association arose later in myths about her.
I too have heard that owls are generally not very bright, but that is for predators, not because they are predators. Predators usually need extra brains.
Jess
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Judith
Berman
Registered User
(10/8/02 6:35:26 am)
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owl lore
The owl is fairly consistently associated with death on the indigenous north Pacific Coast, but not necessarily in a negative way. George Hunt discusses traditional Kwakwaka'wakw beliefs about owls in a personal narrative set ca. 1875, published in Franz Boas, THE RELIGION OF THE KWAKIUTL (1930, vol 1 -- see "The owls"). Every living man and woman owns an owl mask (great horned owl), a sort of owl double to which he or she is connected. At death a person goes toward that mask to become a real owl; if you ask an owl hooting at night who it was in life, it will tell you its name. "The owl is not the soul, but only one side [of the person]." When Hunt shoots an owl whose hooting keeps him awake he is accused of murder -- "Don't you know it was a man you shot?" And a man does subsequently die, and some accuse Hunt of having killed him when he killed the owl.
According to de Laguna (in UNDER MOUNT ST. ELIAS, 1972: 829-30), among the Tlingit owls were also considered to speak human language -- to speak all human languages, in fact. Owls come to tell bad news, usually deaths or sickness, but also warn people of impending danger, and people should heed the warnings. Childen who cry too much are also told they will turn into owls and there is a story of a girl who mistreated her mother-in-law and, after being shunned thereafter, turned into an owl.
I have never read the book I HEARD THE OWL CALL MY NAME, by Margaret Craven, but it is based more or less on these and/or neighboring traditions.
Judith
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Lotti
Unregistered User
(10/8/02 2:22:39 pm)
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Owls to Athens
I'm not sure if this exists in the English Language, but in German we have a saying "to carry owls to Athens" which means to do something superfluous (Spelling?!?). As far as I know, it comes from coins with an owl on it in ancient Athens (the cities Patron being, of course, Athena and therefore the owl). I know I explain it very badly... What I wanted to get at was that Greece's new Euro coins include one with - an owl. I love that "pun" on the ancient saying.
Sorry, I fear this is only remotely related to the question - I just love to sprout all kinds of bits and pieces of information left and right... Forgive me, please?!
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Rebecca
Unregistered User
(10/9/02 11:08:41 am)
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Re: Owls in Myth
In the Welsh cycle of tales, the Mabinogion, Blodeuedd, who is a woman made of flowers as a wife for the hero Lleu Llaw Gyffes, is changed into an owl when she betrays him and almost succeeds in bringing about his death.
If you can find a copy of the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols that gives a general overview of various cultures' beliefs regarding the owl, and might be a good jumping-off point for more in-depth research.
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Richard
Parks
Registered User
(10/9/02 11:31:01 am)
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Re: Owls in Myth
Alan Garner's wonderful "The Owl Service" is a modern take on that legend.
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Jessica
Unregistered User
(10/9/02 12:18:09 pm)
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oh, brilliant, great people!
Hee! Beautiful friends! Wise - people! Thank you, all of you, for your input and help. My library doesn't carry the books you (Gail) mentioned but a friend found them somewhere for about three $'s each. Penguin's Dictionary of Symbols is actually something I hadn't thought of; was spending my time ripping through Joseph Campbell and the myriad of historical books I have.
(Idle sidethought, maybe in grecian storycircles the owl made the leap from grim bearer of dark news to wisdom because, associated with Athena, it was first connected with the war-like aspects of her. Those which gave her the name "Grim Goddess." Then, as the emphasis on her wiser side became more prolific the own transfered. Hence! That professor owl we are all so fond of, who's recent incarnations include: The Tootsie Pop Owl. Is this another page in the raptors mythic tale? Is the owl to become a pedantic, scheming Oxfordian scholar? Only another hundred years will tell...)
Thank you again - what a very excellent site!
--Jessica
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Carrie
Unregistered User
(10/11/02 1:28:09 pm)
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owls
Jessica,
I wrote a full-length feature on owl myths for a magazine. If you'd like a copy for your research you can give email me at carrie.miner@cox.net.
Carrie
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judithwq
Registered User
(10/14/02 6:45:21 pm)
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owls
A beautiful book which takes the meaning of owls to a different place is a wonderful children's book by Barbara Berger called Gwinna, about the mother of the owls and a girl who belongs to them... I know also, amongst the Mayan, owl feathers are considered ominous rather than serendipitous, and are not allowed at ritual. I knew an apprentice to a Mayan shaman who could tell whether or not someone had brought (even accidentally) owl feathers to rituals he was leading, and how many there were in the circle.
I received two owl feathers in the mail from a woman taxidermist once, and when the manila envelope arrived at my door I had an intuition not to take the package inside. I brushed it off and did bring it in, and owl feather for myself and my then-partner. Right after the package came, all hell broke loose in our lives, and there was much death on many levels.
Perhaps my superstitious Jewish self is coming out...
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Richard
Parks
Registered User
(10/15/02 10:02:42 am)
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Re: owls
The owl is also a bad omen in Cherokee culture. I wonder if that was common among the Eastern tribes.
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Judith
Berman
Registered User
(10/15/02 10:21:59 am)
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owl award
Don't know if this shows up on any of the above-mentioned sites, but I note the winner of this year's Mythopoeic Award for Myth and Fantasy scholarship is:
The Owl, the Raven & the Dove: The Religious Meaning of the Grimms' Magic Fairy Tales, G. Ronald Murphy (Oxford University Press)
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Carolyn
Dunn
Registered User
(10/17/02 8:48:08 pm)
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Owls & bad Omens
Yes, Richard, owls are considered bad omens in Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole traditions. The are messengers of death and usually represent that someone close to you will die suddenly. To have any of their amulets is considered bad form.
Carolyn
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