When I was growing up it was a tradition in England to salute a magpie if you saw one. They were believed to bring good luck, so by saluting them and saying, “Good day captain” you were acknowledging that you were aware of their presence and honoring the luck that was on its way.
According to the well know rhyme, seeing a magpie was actually a prediction of foreboding, so how it became an omen of good luck to the Brits, I am not sure. There are many versions of the rhyme, but the one I grew up with went like this:
One for sorrow,
Two for Joy,
Three for a kiss,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.
In this version of the rhyme, I guess in perspective it was only unlucky if you saw a magpie by itself, more than one indicates some good news. However, I am not sure what ‘Four for a boy’ is implying. Maybe that you will have a baby boy, if you are expecting, or meet a boy if you’re a girl. But where does that leave the boys…LOL!
There is a version that has thirteen lines, the final one being – Thirteen beware it’s the devil himself. I never saw more than two magpies together at any one time, but I am sure there are places where you could see them in larger numbers. Older versions of the rhyme did have more foreboding lines in them too.
In Christianity, magpies were associated with the devil. According to a myth, both a dove and a magpie sat on Jesus’ cross during the crucifixion. The dove caught Christ’s tears, but the magpie did not. The church even spread a rumor that magpies’ tongues held a drop of the devil’s blood which links in with line thirteen as mentioned above.
Korean folklore is more in line with the British belief, it considers magpies as symbols of good fortune and carriers of good news and some Native American tribes consider the magpie feather to be a sign of fearlessness.
Magpies also have a reputation for being thieves, which was linked to their love of shiny objects. There was many a morning when I would get the milk off the doorstep, only to find that the shiny silver tops had been pecked open by a magpie trying to steal it.
There are many other interesting facts about magpies too, which may surprise you. They can use tools such as bending wires to help extract food from containers, demonstrating impressive problem-solving skills. Along with having the foresight to hide surplus food away for a later date, being able to remember the places they tucked it away, shows they have an excellent memory.
Magpie’s also have an uncanny ability to recognize their reflection in a mirror. This indicates heightened self-awareness and a high level of cognitive ability, and is a rare skill among non-human animals.
They live in family groups and work together to defend their territory and raise their young. They can recognize humans and remember interactions denoting social skills, they can even imitate some human sounds.
So even though diverse cultures have opposing views as to the omens magpies portend, I don’t think anyone can dispute the intelligent, humanlike qualities that they have.
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