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Are Robins Symbols Of Dead Loved Ones?

Robins are bold birds, not afraid of being around humans or even landing on them. Always in the hope of food being on offer, whether it's a gardener turning the soil in his potato patch, or a workman stopping in the park for his lunch-time sarnies. So a family of robins in some location might well land on several members of a nearby human family.
 
My brother has been told he almost certainly has bone cancer, and has had to move back in here to the family home. As I've mentioned many times, our mum, 88 in February, has been expected by sheer reason of age and multiple medical conditions, to surely not be long for this world for some time now....but remains as invulnerable as a tardigrade. First chance I've had to use that word. Things are not particularly grim right now, but clearly the chances of losing one or both of them in the near future increase with each passing week.

I reference these facts because I've just seen two white doves flying around and perching either side of a window two doors down. I don't think I've ever seen doves before and though the naturalistic reason is obvious enough..they're simply brooding animals seeking shelter near a loft space....the temptation to google if there is any hopeful folkloric symbolism to such a site is equally hard to resist. So I did. All of the usual stuff about love and holy spirit etc are there, serenity and what not. But...and I finally come to the point...it seems they occupy for many the same space that robins have come to since I started this thread years ago. They are, supposedly, symbols of dead loved ones, or to take said loved ones away etc. Cue lots of anecdotes from people who saw one following a death or by the grave side.

How widespread this association is with doves in particular I don't know. But it does all seem to emphasise that people will - not necessarily wrongly - see such symbolism/messaging in just about any previously unnoticed creature who crops up around the time of a death.
 
In Fremantle, western Australia, there is a coffee shop called Gino's which was run by a gentleman called Gino. He died unfortunately, and within days a willy wag tail started to visit the shop, common concensus is that it's Gino returning to make sure that everything is ship shape and above board.


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Here's the little fellow just checking things out.
 
Robins were my mothers favourite bird. I remember her being very upset about having to move 600 miles away from her home town, very late in life, and as I was trying to console her during a break from driving, a robin appeared really close to us. She cheered up as soon as she saw it & told me the robin meant she'd be alright. A few years after the move she died & a couple of days later a robin appeared in my garden & has been around ever since, several years now. Really confident & friendly too. I always wondered if he was her sending reassurance & today was amazed to see a post on Facebook about other people thinking along the same lines. A search on the internet found your thread so I thought I'd add my story.
 
There are two robins in my back garden this year that fight like... well, I was going to say like cat and dog, but you know what I mean. I wish they'd get along, there's plenty of bird feed for them both.
 
We went out for a long winter walk last weekend - right up in hills we were. As is her habit, my daughter started off a list of things to 'spot' whilst we were walking. First thing on her list was 'A robin' and within about a minute, a robin landed on the path in front of us.

GNC said:
There are two robins in my back garden this year that fight like... well, I was going to say like cat and dog, but you know what I mean. I wish they'd get along, there's plenty of bird feed for them both.
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GNC said:
There are two robins in my back garden this year that fight like... well, I was going to say like cat and dog, but you know what I mean. I wish they'd get along, there's plenty of bird feed for them both.
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Robins are highly territorial and males can be very aggressive with others males intruding into their territory.
 
My husband freaks a bit out, each time he sees a Robin. According to him, they bring bad luck.
No such superstitions in France, they are just pretty and cold birds, at the time of the year.
 
One has taken to sheltering in the garage, which doesn't have its back-door at the moment as I'm working on it. It's just warmer than outside I think!
 
Since being a kid I was always told that robins were the reincarnated spirits of passed loved ones. My wife lost her parents 3 years ago (they passed within 8 weeks of each other) and she loves seeing a robin. She always feels like it's one of her parents just saying "hi" and seeing if she's OK.

We went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall in October and, as we sat having the mandatory Cornish pasty, a robin came and joined us on the bench where we were sat and happily enjoyed the crumbs we shared with him/her. It really made my wife's day to have received another 'visit' by one of her parents.
 
stupidget said:
We went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall in October and, as we sat having the mandatory Cornish pasty, a robin came and joined us on the bench where we were sat and happily enjoyed the crumbs we shared with him/her. It really made my wife's day to have received another 'visit' by one of her parents.
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I got quite close to a robin in the Lost Gardens of Heligan about ten years ago. It won't be the same as yours as there's no way they live that long, but nice coincidence. Sorry for grainy images, I was quite taken aback at how close it was and just took the pics as quickly as possible.
Screen Shot 2016-12-01 at 18.00.53jpeg.jpg Screen Shot 2016-12-01 at 18.01.07jpeg.jpg
 
I should mention I really like robins, just not when they bashing into each other in a fit of birdy pique. Blue tits get along fine with each other! Look and learn, redbreasts!
 
GNC said:
I should mention I really like robins, just not when they bashing into each other in a fit of birdy pique. Blue tits get along fine with each other! Look and learn, redbreasts!
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I wonder if there is a political comment embedded in there somewhere..? :p
 
Ach, no, you're sharper than I tonight!
 
Draheste said:
My husband freaks a bit out, each time he sees a Robin. According to him, they bring bad luck.
No such superstitions in France, they are just pretty and cold birds, at the time of the year.
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That's interesting Draheste - to some of the Old People in Australia, the Willy Wagtail [Rhipidura leucophrys] is a bearer of bad tidings, I noticed at the time that the Nyoongar gentleman in the picture, who was having his morning coffee, had his eye firmly and constantly attached, watching this little fellow while he was in the shop.
 
GNC said:
I should mention I really like robins, just not when they bashing into each other in a fit of birdy pique. Blue tits get along fine with each other! Look and learn, redbreasts!
Click to expand...
I have a book on robins and the author explains that outside the necessities of life (eating, drinking, mating etc) what robins really like to do is sing and fight. It doesn't sound like a bad life to me if that is what you like doing! It is mostly show and they rarely harm one another.
 
MungomanII said:
That's interesting Draheste - to some of the Old People in Australia, the Willy Wagtail [Rhipidura leucophrys] is a bearer of bad tidings, I noticed at the time that the Nyoongar gentleman in the picture, who was having his morning coffee, had his eye firmly and constantly attached, watching this little fellow while he was in the shop.
Click to expand...

Yesterday night, my husband told me that, a few month before her death, his mum who was German, was noticing a lot of robins in the garden. She had cancer for a second time and she kept saying that she would be dead soon as they were bearer of bad luck and bad news. And unfortunately, it happened in the spring, the year after. That's why my other half doesn't like much these little critters.
 
min_bannister said:
I have a book on robins and the author explains that outside the necessities of life (eating, drinking, mating etc) what robins really like to do is sing and fight. It doesn't sound like a bad life to me if that is what you like doing! It is mostly show and they rarely harm one another.
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I'd prefer to watch them sing and dance, but you're right, I will now watch them knowing they're enjoying themselves. Thank you.
 
Draheste said:
Yesterday night, my husband told me that, a few month before her death, his mum who was German, was noticing a lot of robins in the garden. She had cancer for a second time and she kept saying that she would be dead soon as they were bearer of bad luck and bad news. And unfortunately, it happened in the spring, the year after. That's why my other half doesn't like much these little critters.
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I must admit that few old beliefs came to Australia with me as a child, except for this one, and I don't know if it's just a Northern belief but it was that if you cut a worm in half while digging, that it would cause it to rain - as a child I reckoned that a lot of people worked in their allotment every day...

Another two were to turn your money over [pocket to pocket] on a full moon, and also to recite 'white rabbits' three times on the first of every month. I still say white rabbits as soon as I realise that it's the first of the month.
 
MungomanII said:
I must admit that few old beliefs came to Australia with me as a child, except for this one, and I don't know if it's just a Northern belief but it was that if you cut a worm in half while digging, that it would cause it to rain - as a child I reckoned that a lot of people worked in their allotment every day...

Another two were to turn your money over [pocket to pocket] on a full moon, and also to recite 'white rabbits' three times on the first of every month. I still say white rabbits as soon as I realise that it's the first of the month.
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That's me buggered then...
 
GNC said:
I should mention I really like robins, just not when they bashing into each other in a fit of birdy pique. Blue tits get along fine with each other! Look and learn, redbreasts!
Click to expand...

I've never seen a robin before, even though wikipedia says they winter in this area. So no idea personally if they are good or bad luck or mystical in any way. We do have plenty of hummingbirds who squabble and fight all day, though. They go after each other with their beaks like a mini sword fight.
 
Ulalume said:
I've never seen a robin before, even though wikipedia says they winter in this area. So no idea personally if they are good or bad luck or mystical in any way
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Its worth noting that American robins are completely different creatures from the European kind, which sort of thing makes me wonder if alleged spiritual symbolism ought to be different for one kind than another.

Famously in the movie Mary Poppins the animatronic robin that appears on the window sill in the house in London is a big American robin, which has clearly got a terrible sense of direction.

A British robin is tiny little fat ball that could easily fit in your hand.

It's also worth noting that despite their reputation as winter snowy creatures our kind at least are in fact around all through the year. The Christmas association seems to be down to their frequent appearance on Christmas cards and the fact their red breasts stand out in the snow.
 
gattino said:
It's also worth noting that despite their reputation as winter snowy creatures our kind at least are in fact around all through the year. The Christmas association seems to be down to their frequent appearance on Christmas cards and the fact their red breasts stand out in the snow.
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Yes indeed. You do also get some migration from European robins though so there can be an increase. Their breasts are duller in colour.
 
(British) robin combativeness, as referred to lately in this thread -- a rather arresting sight recently in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. In an enclosure for exotic birds, there was a robin which had clearly got inside there at some time -- the mesh too small for him to get out through it. He, and an "outside" robin, were engaged in an energetic physical scrap with each other, with much pecking, through gaps in the mesh.
 
It is a territory thing. If you are in my territory, you feel the full force of my wrath, netting or no!
 
I lost two members of my family this year. After my aunt died in January I saw a robin a few times in the garden and also in my path as I headed down a road
on my way to work in the morning.

Before Easter my father was very ill and was admitted to hospital. On one day I had left him with my mother for a while and was stood outside the hospital to get some fresh air. A robin suddenly appeared and came up very close to me.I could have touched it. It stayed for a few minutes then flew into some nearby bushes. My father died the following day.
 
MungomanII said:
I must admit that few old beliefs came to Australia with me as a child, except for this one, and I don't know if it's just a Northern belief but it was that if you cut a worm in half while digging, that it would cause it to rain - as a child I reckoned that a lot of people worked in their allotment every day...

Another two were to turn your money over [pocket to pocket] on a full moon, and also to recite 'white rabbits' three times on the first of every month. I still say white rabbits as soon as I realise that it's the first of the month.
Click to expand...

From France, where I come from, if you cut your hair three days after new moon, it grows faster. My sister and my mum both can't stand seeing knives crossed. I remember being in Western Australia about ten years ago and in a restaurant, one of the maid didn't like seeing knives crossed. I asked her where she came from, she said Ireland. Maybe, it is just a personal belief.
 
Over here Draheste, the old shepherd would 'cut' [castrate] after the full moon - it's supposed to reduce bleeding and swelling, and my Mum had the same superstition with crossed knives, and would get one of us kids to uncross them if they crossed while setting the table. Mum believed that crossed knives indicated a possible argument, and that if the crossed knives were uncrossed by the person setting the table, it would be on for young and old.
 
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