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Crow / Magpie / Corvid Superstitions

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Anonymous

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I wouldn't say I'm superstitious. Just eccentric;)

It's not that I believe certain things cause bad luck; I just have certain things I don't like.

I salute magpies. ...
 
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The Magpie thing......do people just salute them or do you say something too?

I always thought you had to say "Hello Mr Magpie, how are your wife and children" or "Hello Major, I hope you are well".......Even when walking down a busy street I still mutter this, under my breath of course, and salute (usually by scratching my temple and then flicking my wrist out to look at my watch....)

Is it just me?????
 
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I didn't know about saluting to magpies but I usually say Hello Mr Magpie just to be on the safe side. But like Strangefruit, I say it very very quietly and without moving my mouth.

In fact it probably sounds like uh-uh uh-fuh uh-huh, but it makes me feel better ok?
 
Wembley said:
The human/magpie one is interesting though

I think I read somewhere that it has something to do with their light fingered (beaked?) habits and burial sights, hence a whole supernatural reputation building up. But now that I write it it does sound a bit weak.
 
I was always given to understand that you only salute solitary magpies, because they mate for life; so a magpie alone means it's been widowed, hence the bad luck.

Also, according to some legends, Merlin was transformed into one. Or Arthur.

And they look like funeral directors.
 
yeah, one for sorrow, two for joy kinda thing.

I seem to recognise the Merlin transformation.
 
Thats where the "Hows your wife and children" bit comes into it. Perhaps to make it think you didnt know it had been widowed....maybe....I dont know!
 
I only hail a magpie if it is on its own. There's a rhyme I learnt when I was young that expalins the significance of magpies:

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy.

Five for siver,
Six for gold,
And seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
 
strangefruit said:
Thats where the "Hows your wife and children" bit comes into it. Perhaps to make it think you didnt know it had been widowed....maybe....I dont know!

Which strikes me as being rather insensitive, after all :D
 
Hey I dont make the rules up!

Its true though, I think next time I will just salute........"Major"
 
pi23 said:
I only hail a magpie if it is on its own. There's a rhyme I learnt when I was young that expalins the significance of magpies:

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy.

Five for siver,
Six for gold,
And seven for a secret,
Never to be told.

or :

One's sorrow,
two's mirth,
three's a christening
four's a dearth
five's heaven
six is hell
seven is the devil his ane sel' (own self)

Also:
One for sorrow
two for joy
three for a girl
four for a boy
five for silver
six for gold
seven for a secret never to be told
eight a wish
nine a kiss
ten is a bird you must not miss
 
shades-of-night.com/aviary/folklore.html
Link is dead. An archived version can be accessed at:

https://web.archive.org/web/20150506183958/http://www.shades-of-night.com/aviary/folklore.html

Folklore and Superstitions regarding Ravens, Crows, and Magpies
Crows have been used for the purpose of divination since the time of ancient Rome.

Finding a dead crow on the road is good luck.

Crows in a church yard are bad luck

A single crow over a house meant bad news, and often foretold a death within. "A crow on the thatch, soon death lifts the latch."

It was unlucky in Wales to have a crow cross your path. However, if two crows crossed your path, the luck was reversed. "Two crows I see, good luck to me"

In New England, however, to see two crows flying together from the left was bad luck.

When crows were quiet and subdued during their midsummer's molt, some European peasants believed that it was because they were preparing to go to the Devil to pay tribute with their black feathers.

Often, two crows would be released together during a wedding celebration. If the two flew away together, the couple could look forward to a long life together. If the pair separated, the couple might expect to be soon parted, too. (This practice was also performed using pairs of doves).

In Chinese mythology a three legged crow was used to represent the Sun (because 3 was the number for light and goodness, which the sun was the embodiment of)

Magpies are ominous birds, able to foretell events by the size of the group in which they fly.

A spell of protection vs. magpie was to cross yourself, raise your hat to the bird or spit three times over right shoulder and say 'devil, devil, I defy thee'. This was particularly applicable if you did not like the future as foretold by counting the magpies.

Magpies are accused of not wearing full mourning at the Crucifixion. Because they wore white when they were supposed to be all black, they have been cursed by God.

In Scotland, Magpies are thought to be so evil that each has a drop of the Devil's blood under its tongue.

In Somerset (West Country of England) locals used to carry an onion with them for protection from magpies or crows.

In the same area, locals used to tip their hats to Ravens, in order not to offend them.

Ravens are associated with the devil in many parts of UK. In Yorkshire children were threatened with the Great Black Bird which would carry them off if they were bad.

It has been said that a baby will die if a raven's eggs are stolen.

Ravens are considered royal birds. Legend has it King Arthur turned into one.

Alexander the Great was supposedly guided across the desert by two ravens sent from heaven.

The Tower of London houses ravens, and has for over 900 years. It is said that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, England will fall. Or, to be more exact, if they leave the Tower, the Tower will fall - and since the tower is (theoretically at least) tied to the crown of England, the Crown will fall - and if the Crown falls, then the Country shall fall, too.

If a raven perches on a house in Wales, it will bring prosperity to the family within.

In Scotland, a raven circling a house was said to predict the death of someone within.

Rooks feeding in village streets or close to nests in the morning means inclement weather is to come - usually storms or rain.

Conversely, rooks flying far from their nest means fair weather.

Rooks used to be told of a landowner's death. The new landowner would stand under a rookery and give the news, usually adding the promise that only he and his friends would be allowed to shoot the birds in future. If he neglected the ceremony, the birds would desert the rookery - an evil omen in itself. This forecast the loss of the land and downfall of the family through poverty.

The French had a saying that evil priests became crows, and bad nuns became magpies.

The Greeks said "Go to the Crows" the same way we would say "Go to Hell."

The Romans used the expression "To pierce a Crow's eye" in relation to something that was almost impossible to do.

An Irish expression, "You'll follow the Crows for it" meant that a person would miss something after it was gone.

The expression, "I have a bone to pick with you" used to be " I have a crow to pick with you".

To protect seed, shoot rooks and carrion crows.
To protect young birds, shoot jays, crows, and magpies.
And for protection for weakling lambs, ravens should be shot.


Corbie Coont, forby
Ane fir sorrow
Twa fir mirth
Three fir a waddin,
Fowr fir birth
Fyve fir sillar,
Sax fir gowd;
Seeven fir a secret,
Ne'er tae be telt
Aicht fir heav'n
An' nine fir hell
An' ten fir thi deil's ain sell!
 
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Love that list, but by god our ancestors had a lot of time on their hands...

I've not heard that older list before, the more modern version goes ...

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl and four for a boy

I can't remember if it's a single crow or blackbird that you're supposed to tip your imaginary hat to for good luck.
 
I can't remember if it's a single crow or blackbird that you're supposed to tip your imaginary hat to for good luck.

always do that and say good morning to a magpie!
 
Swifty said:
I've not heard that older list before, the more modern version goes ...

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl and four for a boy

This was, of course, part of the lyrics to that superb British childrens' tv programme of the 1970/80s, "Magpie". Only us oldsters, on the upper slopes of 40-plus, will properly remember it. There has never been such a good Fortean studies primer ever since. 'Blue Peter' was always very safe, cautious, establishment, "Magpie" was more edgy, headed for being darker and experimental. A perfect tv afternoon back then, for me, would've consisted of Blue Peter, Magpie, The Tomorrow People (whilst drinking Creamola Foam) followed by Top of the Pops, then some CS Lewis, Ovaltine, and bed.

Swifty said:
I can't remember if it's a single crow or blackbird that you're supposed to tip your imaginary hat to for good luck.

Click on the unexpanded quote within my post above, to read more of this (from Shades of Night):

In Somerset (West Country of England) locals used to carry an onion with them for protection from magpies or crows.

In the same area, locals used to tip their hats to Ravens, in order not to offend them.
 
This was, of course, part of the lyrics to that superb British childrens' tv programme of the 1970/80s, "Magpie". Only us oldsters, on the upper slopes of 40-plus, will properly remember it. There has never been such a good Fortean studies primer ever since. 'Blue Peter' was always very safe, cautious, establishment, "Magpie" was more edgy, headed for being darker and experimental. A perfect tv afternoon back then, for me, would've consisted of Blue Peter, Magpie, The Tomorrow People (whilst drinking Creamola Foam) followed by Top of the Pops, then some CS Lewis, Ovaltine, and bed.

It also had Jenny Hanley ;)
 
I wonder if it's a regional thing - growing up in an isolated highland area of the Peak District I was taught to spit at a magpie.

However, I've read that the action of spitting was once euphemistically referred to as 'saluting'. I know that some people salute a magpie (and maybe greeting a magpie is a further development of that) and wonder if this is a literal misunderstanding of the original action. Although I suppose the process could have run the other way round too.
 
I wonder if it's a regional thing - growing up in an isolated highland area of the Peak District I was taught to spit at a magpie.

However, I've read that the action of spitting was once euphemistically referred to as 'saluting'. I know that some people salute a magpie (and maybe greeting a magpie is a further development of that) and wonder if this is a literal misunderstanding of the original action. Although I suppose the process could have run the other way round too.

I wonder if the term cuckoo spit is in anyway related to or an amalgamation of spitting at magpies ? ... it's a bit of a stretch I'll admit but the only other bird/spit related thing I've heard of ..

http://www.cuckoospit.com/the-cuckoo-spit/
 
Weird thing about cuckoo spit is that I haven't seen any for years. Any. At all.
Used to see it everywhere back in the 60s and 70s.
 
Weird thing about cuckoo spit is that I haven't seen any for years. Any. At all.
Used to see it everywhere back in the 60s and 70s.
Well we're taller and busier nowadays for a start :) .... that or you might be on to something because I haven't either until recently and just up the road from my house. I never really believed it actually came from cuckoos though.
 
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This ^ isnt him, (hes a bit ruffled these days and needs a bit of a dust), but I actually caught one last year. He sat around on my hand for a bit (leather gloves were my friend) looking a bit non-plussed, shared my dinner while i pondered whether to make use of the spare parrot cage. He seemed to perk up a bit after some cheese sandwiches, so in the spirit of fairness, i shooed him off to a tree stand where he sat around for a bit checking out the state of things before clearing off to do whatever it is crows get up to in their spare time.
 
That's the one thanks! ... you've just reminded me, we used to say "Hello Mr. Magpie" and do the hat tip thing for good luck if there was only one of them.


I always greet crows and never questioned why, it's just a habit. I must have read about in the past.
 
Weird thing about cuckoo spit is that I haven't seen any for years. Any. At all.
Used to see it everywhere back in the 60s and 70s.
I have a plant (Lampranthus amoenus ;)) which is absolutely covered in cuckoo spit. It is the protective home of the common Froghopper nymph, little green insect that can jump up to 70 cm high apparently, according to The Wildlife Trust! Every day's a school day........:)
 
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