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While Man and Nature Sleep: Owls Are Cultural Symbols of Dark Mystery and Good Fortune
| Article
# : |
10515 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1993 |
3,368 Words |
| Author
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Gertrud Benker
Gertrud Benker, a free-lance writer in Munich, Germany,
specializes in history and religious folk art. |
During the last fifty years, the owl has become a noticeably more popular symbol in western Europe. Owls appear as the main characters in children's books and folklore, and the owl's image is found on stamps and in every medium of the arts and craft, from jewelry and textiles to sculpture, pottery, and painting. Arts and crafts shops have whole windows devoted to owls of every material: These are bought eagerly by collectors, some of whom have thousands of owl items. What has caused this owl boom? Why does the owl so capture our imagination?
Certainly, man has been intrigued by the owl for millennia; the oldest known images of owls were carved into rock walls by Paleolithic hunting tribes in Spain and southern France. But many contradictions: Both fear and hopeful expectations are associated with this nocturnal bird of prey. Usually, however, the owl has been associated with bad omens. Most people perceive nocturnal animals, like toads and bats, as sinister and suspect. The owl, with its silent, ghostly flight, fascinates and frightens people, small animals, and birds alike.
Early symbolism
In Aesop's Fables, the owl is portrayed an intelligent and capable of recognizing the connections between certain events and their consequences. Thus, the owl advises the other birds to root out the oak trees, as one day mistletoe--which produces poisonous birdlime--will grow on them. The owl also knows that the nets for bird catching are made of flax and encourages the birds to eat flaxseed. The birds make fun of the wise owl but later pay for their shortsightedness with their lives.
Owl images from ancient Greece emphasize the large, "intelligent" eyes. Some coins show Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom and science, on the side and the owls that nested in great numbers in the Acropolis on the reverse. (The owl, as symbol of Athene, in turn represented good fortune and victory.) In coins and vases, the owl is portrayed holding a twig or wreath from the olive tree as a proclamation of victory. The owl is said to have favorably influenced the Battle of Salamis by alighting on the rigging of the Attic ships and cheering on the sailors. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, therefore, the owl has symbolized intelligence, sensible power, and learning and thus is considered as possible omen of good fortune. These ancient perceptions were revived in the Renaissance.
In the early Christian era, the owl's image became more ambiguous. Around A.D.200
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