Over on the "Birds and Poetry" thread, Gordon Hammlet mentioned the folklore associated with the wren. I'd completely forgotten about this, but the tradition is referred to on a Steeleye Span album "Please to See the King". The king in this case is the wren and on the album, the song "The King" harks back to the tradition that Gordon refers to. This is from the sleeve notes of the album :
The wren traditionally symbolised winter and the robin summer. On twelfth night in Pembrokeshire, where the song was collected, a wren was hunted and killed to symbolise the death of winter and then placed in a garlanded box and taken from door to door. At each house this song was sung and the occupants asked to pay to see the dead wren with the words “Please to see the King.”
Traditionally, it was the Goldcrest with its bright plumage that was considered to be "the King" - the Lord of Misrule, but as these were quite difficult to find,the wren was decorated with bright ribbons in place of the goldcrest (though based on experience of trying to spot them, why a wren shold be considered any easier to catch defies me !!)
Anyway, this got me thinking about the folklore associated with other birds.
To start the ball rolling there is the myth associated with the ravens at the tower of London - tradition has it that England will not fall while there are ravens present at the tower ; hence, tame ravens are always kept there - just in case. I know ravens also feature in North American folklore - I seem to remember that the raven is believed to have created land by dropping stones in the sea (can someone confirm this and its origin ??)
A friend of mine who farms has also mentioned that traditionally having swallows nesting in your barn is good, as it means the barn will not be hit by lightening - she doesn't know the origin, just that its something her grandparents passed down and it is a common piece of folklore amongst farmers.
Then there's the origin of the term "Halcyon Days". The kingfisher (referred to in ancient Greek as the Halcyon Bird) which according to ancient legend, was thought to nest at sea. It was believed to be responsible for calming the seas around the time of the winter solstice to allow its eggs to incubate. Another one I have heard about the Kingfisher is that it got its colours when in biblical times it flew high above the Ark to survey the flood waters. It flew too close to the sun thus scorching its head red - and its back became the colour of the sky.
What others do people out there know - and are there any common themes around the world ???
Annie
The wren traditionally symbolised winter and the robin summer. On twelfth night in Pembrokeshire, where the song was collected, a wren was hunted and killed to symbolise the death of winter and then placed in a garlanded box and taken from door to door. At each house this song was sung and the occupants asked to pay to see the dead wren with the words “Please to see the King.”
Traditionally, it was the Goldcrest with its bright plumage that was considered to be "the King" - the Lord of Misrule, but as these were quite difficult to find,the wren was decorated with bright ribbons in place of the goldcrest (though based on experience of trying to spot them, why a wren shold be considered any easier to catch defies me !!)
Anyway, this got me thinking about the folklore associated with other birds.
To start the ball rolling there is the myth associated with the ravens at the tower of London - tradition has it that England will not fall while there are ravens present at the tower ; hence, tame ravens are always kept there - just in case. I know ravens also feature in North American folklore - I seem to remember that the raven is believed to have created land by dropping stones in the sea (can someone confirm this and its origin ??)
A friend of mine who farms has also mentioned that traditionally having swallows nesting in your barn is good, as it means the barn will not be hit by lightening - she doesn't know the origin, just that its something her grandparents passed down and it is a common piece of folklore amongst farmers.
Then there's the origin of the term "Halcyon Days". The kingfisher (referred to in ancient Greek as the Halcyon Bird) which according to ancient legend, was thought to nest at sea. It was believed to be responsible for calming the seas around the time of the winter solstice to allow its eggs to incubate. Another one I have heard about the Kingfisher is that it got its colours when in biblical times it flew high above the Ark to survey the flood waters. It flew too close to the sun thus scorching its head red - and its back became the colour of the sky.
What others do people out there know - and are there any common themes around the world ???
Annie
