Owls in Lore and Culture
Appendix 3
Owl Tales from North America by Bruce G. Marcot -
Postscripts to "Owls in Lore and Culture"
1 December 2001
I recently had an opportunity to
spend a day hiking the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona with a wonderful
Native American lady, and we discussed owl lore. She comes from two pueblo
tribes, the Hopi in Northern Arizona and the Isleta which is south of
Albuquerque along the Rio Grande River, New Mexico. She relayed to me some owl
stories she was told while growing up. Owls were viewed by these tribes as
harbingers of ill health and ill fortune. An owl once came to their house and
shortly thereafter her younger brother fell ill. If an owl was heard calling,
she and her siblings would go outside and shout at it, trying to compel it to
leave.
23 November 2004
I had an interesting discussion on
the role of animals, and on owl lore in particular, with Ernie Philip, Elder and
Cultural Coordinator of the Shuswap Tribe. We met at the Quaaout Resort &
Conference Centre on the shores of the Little Shuswap Lake outside the small
town of Chase, British Columbia, Canada (east of Kamloops in south central
B.C.). Ernie conveyed to me several owl stories of his people. Mostly, owls are
viewed as messengers and usually portend a forthcoming death, but the messages
are not always bad. You have to know how to read the messages, how to understand
the owl’s calls. Ernie told me that, as a youth, he was taught this by his
elders. I asked if it is only the larger owls that convey the messages of death
and he said no, it is all the owls, including Screech Owl, Great Horned Owl, and
the others as well.  Prev
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