With the next major holiday being St. Patrick's day, I thought this would be an appropriate time to explore how luck plays in the role of the symbolic meanings of owls.
Let's start with Japan. In Japanese, the word for owl is 'fukurou', meaning protection and fortune. So it is not surprising that lucky owl charms are big in the Japanese culture. These charms are given as gifts for good luck with different colors having a specific purpose. As example: a white owl for happiness, a black owl for good health, a pink owl for love.
In some Native American cultures, the owl was viewed as protective spirits. As such, shamans used their feathers in their practice to ward off evil spirits.
At one time in Lorraine, France, it was believed that owls could help find husbands for spinsters.
An old Welsh belief was that if a pregnant women heard an owl, it meant her child would be blessed.
The owl was seen as a symbol of good fortune in ancient Greece.
In Mongolia, it was believed that an owl had saved Genghis Khan's life. A Barn owl was roosting in the bush he was hiding in and when his enemies started looking there, they saw the owl and left. Khan's enemies did not believed the owl would have still been there if Khan was.
Well, all this convinced me that we could all benefit from adding a few owls in our St. Patrick's Day celebration. Don't you agree? :)
