My cousin and I were moving stuff into our apartment on the third floor (yes I know we're crazy) tonight. I went to the patio and there was a snake!!!! About 3 feet long and a light brown with red patches. Aren't snakes supposed to be a bad omen?? There are no trees aound the building so I have no idea where the heck it came from. Thankfully a nice neighbor pushed it over the balcony.
2007-05-30 19:14:34 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
Thank you for all of the answers!! For those of you who think "poor snake"" for it being pushed off of the balcony- how about I call YOU next time to come get it and bring it to YOUR house???
2007-05-31 17:44:27 · update #1
Oh dear. In Japan, it *wouldn't* be a bad omen; it would mean you were going to come into money. But now you've pushed your money over the balcony . . . .
Oh well, I believe you make your own luck. Good luck in your new home! Throw a great housewarming party, and that should be a lucky start to your new place.
2007-05-30 19:23:51 · answer #1 · answered by Madame M 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No snakes were often regarded as good omens -- the snake as a creature of evil is a purely Christian concept, from the story of the Garden of Eden.
Snakes were often symbols of healing, like in the ancient cult of the Greek medicine-god Asclepius. The emblem for physicians is still either the caduceus -- a wand entwined with two snakes -- or the staff of Asclepius -- a stick with one snake coiled around it. So in this sense they are a good sign.
Alternatively they are a sign of death. The most famous omen in the Iliad of Homer, appears when the Greeks are sacrificing to the gods before departing for Troy -- a giant snake slithers into a tree nearby and devours nine chicks and the mother-bird in a nest. The omen meant that the battles (period of killing) at Troy would continue unresolved for 9 years, and only in the 10th would the city fall.
Like your snake, the one mentioned by Homer had red splotches!
2007-05-30 21:57:44 · answer #2 · answered by Thalia 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Snakes are not a bad omen and I'd gladly take the snake, there was no need to push it off the balcony, it wasn't going to hurt you.
Hurting a snake, now that's a bad omen.
2007-06-03 17:40:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It sure is a bad omen -for the snake! Imagine how the poor thing must feel. It's out there sunning itself, minding its own business, and along comes a human, screeching their heads off as if they'd just seen a monster! Animals know what humans are capable of, and sure enough, one of them comes along and pushes poor snake right off the balcony... How'd YOU like to get treated like that? Calling them a bad omen is just an old Christian excuse for killing them without any other reason.
2007-05-30 19:45:13 · answer #4 · answered by BuddyL 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was a bad omen for the poor snake been pushed over the balcony from the 3rd floor.
In ancient times snakes were considered as bearers of wisdom and knowledge and respected as such.
2007-05-31 01:14:45 · answer #5 · answered by MARY B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Encountering a snake is not necessarily a bad omen. The snake is a traditional symbol of the earth, and of renewal, particularly in the physical sense.
2007-05-30 19:27:50 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
coming across a snake is not counted as an omen at all.yes if u r asleep and one comes and coils behind yr head that is a good omen meaning u r going to become something very important in life one day.
dreaming of snakes is bad but it is not applicable here..
2007-05-31 09:13:26 · answer #7 · answered by victoria 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, I have never heard of a snake being a bad omen.
Snakes do symbolize change, good or bad (or neither). But that doesn't mean that change is going to happen (more than usual) just because you saw a snake.
If you give that belief power by, well, believing it, then it can come true, but if you make a conscious decision to do things your own way (reccomended) then nothing should happen.
2007-05-30 19:50:45 · answer #8 · answered by Mysterious Bob 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
one sunday morning I woke up from my bed to go downstairs to make some coffee and as I try to draw my curtain from the sliding door I noticed a grey snake on the floor of my sitting room near my sliding door. I saw my cat wanting to attack him but I backoff my cat. while alone in the room with him , I decided to open the sliding door and allow him to go off as I did not want to hurt him at all. I was a bit nervous but I kept cool. Eventually , when the door is wide open he slide off gracefully and leap to the nearby driain. I felt a release. I wa s alone at home.i do hope its not a bad omen for me.
2013-10-26 20:55:48 · answer #9 · answered by Catherine 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no such thing as a "bad omen." Believing something is a bad omen has a good chance of causing you to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, though.
2007-05-30 19:17:39 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋