11/6/13

Owls Past and Present

Throughout history and across many cultures, people have regarded Owls with fascination and awe. Few other creatures have so many different and contradictory beliefs about them. Owls have been both feared and venerated, despised and admired, considered wise and foolish, and associated with witchcraft and medicine, the weather, birth and death. Speculation about Owls began in earliest folklore, too long ago to date, but passed down by word of mouth over generations.
tetradrachm.JPG (2416 bytes)tetradrachm2.JPG (3227 bytes)Athenian coins from 5th and 2nd Century BC
Read more at:
http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php?section=owl+mythology&title=myth+and+culture


Owls are one of the oldest species of vertebrate animal in existence, fossils have been found dating back 60 million years, showing the bird to have changed very little in that time.
Throughout the history of mankind, the owl has featured significantly in mythology & folklore. Owls are one of the few birds that have been found in prehistoric cave paintings. Owls have been both revered & feared throughout many civilizations from ancient to more recent times.
In India 'food' made from owls was believed to have many medicinal properties curing seizures in children (owl eye broth) & rheumatism (owl meat). Eating owl eyes was believed to enable a person to see in the dark, while owl meat was believed to be an aphrodisiac. There were also beliefs about events predicted by the number of owl hoots (similar to seeing numbers of magpies in this country) :
1 : impending death
2 : success in imminent venture
3 : woman will be married into the family
4 : disturbance
5 : imminent travel
6 : guests arriving
7 : mental distress
8 : sudden death
9 : good fortune

Read more at:  http://www.pauldfrost.co.uk/intro_o2.html

Hear a cool recording of tales and owl sounds at:
http://birdnote.org/show/folklore-owls


The owl is a decor trend that has been there all along in some shape or form since the 1900's. Through taxidermy, design inlay on a leather piece or stitched in to a hanky, these mysterious night creatures have been a part of our culture as a piece of interest for a very long time. I remember my grandmother had a macramé owl in her indoor greenhouse when I was a child and other various owl decor in a very 1970's fashion.

See more decor at:

Walk in­to home de­cor stores and you prob­ably will see, perched on shelves and atop tables and in faux Christ­mas trees, flocks of owls. Or, to be pre­cise, a par­lia­ment of owls. Owls prin­ted on pil­lows, on drink­ing glasses, on nap­kins, on blankets. Owls in the form of lamps and candles and cute dec­or­at­ive fig­ur­ines. Our ques­tion: Why? Where did the owl craze start, and how did it take flight? A time line of one of home de­cor’s biggest trends.
Check out a cool timeline at:





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