Animals in Superstition

Before embarking on this journey as editor for the folklore and mythology site, I never realized all of the superstitions and old wives' tales that were out there. I knew the everyday superstitions like breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck, walking under a ladder will bring bad luck and a black cat that crosses your path will bring you bad luck.

That is the one that I am going to focus on in this article. Animals in superstition.

BIRDS

In my research for this article, I came across many animal superstitions and some agreed and some were different so I will list them and you can tell me which ones you have heard.

Several sites I saw said that if a bird flies into your house, it means death is coming. However, other places say that it has to be a white bird to mean death. Other sites just say that a bird flying into your house foretells an important message. Hmmm..maybe that important message is death.

A blue jay spends Fridays speaking to the devil about us. Is that why Fridays are considered bad luck?
(I talk about bad luck Fridays in my next article.)

A stork delivers babies and if a stork builds a nest on your roof, you have received a blessing from the goddess Venus of never ending love.

When you see the first robin of spring, make a wish on it and it will come true, with the proviso that you finish the wish before the robin flies away.

Did you know that a peacock feather has an evil eye on the end of it? I didn't. I just thought that they were pretty.

CATS

If a black cat crosses your path, you will have bad luck.

If a black cat walks toward you, you will have good luck, if it walks away from you, it will take the good luck with it.

Apparently white cats bring bad luck to if you see them at night but on the other hand, if you dream about a white cat will bring you good luck. However, if you sleep with a cat, I guess of any color, will bring you bad luck. What happens if you sleep with a cat and then dream about a white cat? Will they negate each other and will you have just regular luck? Is there a such thing as regular luck?

And of course, keep cats away from babies because cats will take the baby's breath away.

DOGS

In Ancient Greece, they believed that dogs could foresee evil.

If a dog is staring at nothing, you are supposed to be able to look between the dog's ears and see a ghost.

Well, that's all of my animal superstitions for now. I will be back with some more in a future article. I hope you enjoy reading this because I had fun researching it. Come into the forum and let me know how many of these you have heard or feel free to list the ones you have heard of.