2007-07-25 16:12:17 · 6 answers · asked by kassandra 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Owls are sometimes seen as a symbol of wisdom, but are more often an archetype of death. The mythology & folklore section might be able to tell you more.
2007-07-25 16:15:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Among the Menominee, Potawatomi and Ojibwa of the Western Great Lakes (Wisconsin and Michigan) the owl is associated with death.
Many Menominee, Potawatomi and Ojibwa I knew, believed that the owl not only fortold of an impending death, but that the owl actually brought death. I lived on the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin for five years (and taught there 18 years) and knew many Menominee who believed that if they heard an owl, it was a "bad" sign because it meant that someone was going to die. In 1991, the school librarian (a non-Indian) hung beautiful pictures of forest animals in the library--including a picture of an owl. The principal made her take the owl picture down because of all the complaints by the Indian staff and parents. Students were actually afraid of the picture.
I knew one Ojibwa medicine woman who had a very different explanation. She taught that the owl was associated with death because the owl was sent to help guide the souls to the other side. She was the one person who was not afraid of the owl. She felt that it was unfair to "blame" the owl for the death. She often said that to hear the owl was a good sign, because the death was going to happen anyway--and if you were going to die anyway, wouldn't you want a guide? She said, "what better guide than the owl?" She said the owl was doing the dead a "favor." Personally, I accepted her view.
Tribes of the Pacific Northwest also believed that the owl fortold of a death. This belief was made "famous" in the book I Heard An Owl Call My Name.
2007-07-25 17:06:21 · answer #2 · answered by lightningelemental 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
from what I know, if you see an owl during the day...it supposedly means someones
death...if you believe that.
I have a friend that is a "Lakota Indian"
and she told me this one time.
2007-07-25 16:17:18 · answer #3 · answered by Kerilyn 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Messengers,they deliver the mail to Privet Drive.
2007-07-25 16:16:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who.?
2007-07-25 16:16:39 · answer #5 · answered by Prof Fruitcake 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Angel of death..... well, for rodents anyhow.
2007-07-25 16:52:30 · answer #6 · answered by teran_realtor 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋