What are Native American legends about owls?
What are Native American legends about owls? - The Environmental Literacy Council
cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/57615714
I'm surprised the article talks about owls as if they're all the same. I would think the symbolism of a barn owl would be quite different from that of a burrowing owl, for instance.
There is at least some differentiation in some cultures. I've talked to @MisterNeon@lemmy.world before about different owls from Meso American codices. Modern Mexican Spanish still has a number of regional words for different types of owls. BΓΊho, lechuza, tecolote, and I'm sure there are more that are less common.
I have been summoned.
So the article doesn't cover Mesoamerican areas which is weird that they'll use the term "Native American" and have the term stop applying past the Rio Grande.
I got a couple of tidbits of owl folklore in regards to Nahua people located in central Mexico (Aztecs).
You have two owls built into the holy calendar the Tonalpolhualli. In each 13 day week "trecena" you have the barred owl "chicuatli" represents the 6th day and you have the great horned owl "tecolotl" that represents the 10th day. I've heard the myth that when a person dies part of their soul is escorted by the corresponding bird from their birth date.
Tecolotl was one of the animal forms that Tezcatlipoca (smoking mirror) would shape shift into on the regular. Chicuahtli is associated with Mictlantecuhtli (lord of the dead lands) which makes sense given the skull-like appearance of the bird.
The last bit I'll go into is the Tlacatecolotl "owl man" who was said to be (unlike Anon6789) a malevolent shapeshifter being possessed by the more sinister spirits and forces of the cosmos. I believe when you see an owl in a temple in some of the codices that is what is being depicted, but don't quote me on that.
Hmmm. I'm no expert, but my brief experience with NA oral tradition is that it doesn't make fine distinctions between the species. It's not "the gray wolf said to the brown wolf"; it's just "wolf".
The article does point out tribe-specific differences in animalism associations; perhaps those differences derive from which owls were most common in those local regions, and their behaviors? But if the legends themselves don't distinguish which owl species is represented in the story, all we could do is speculate.
Shhhhh Dirt Owl might hear you lol
La Lechuza is a Mexican shape shifting witch.
Mictlantecuhtli., Aztec god of the dead, was associated with the mythical owl chicuatli.
Chicuahtli isn't mythical, it's the Nahuatl word the barred owl. I've found a lot of online and books that will interchange the barred owl for a barn owl, but the barn owl in Nahuatl is chichtli.
Edit: didn't realize it was you anon! Sorry we've had this conversation like 3 times now.
Lol no problem. You're one of the people here able to teach me owl stuff.
I thought there were your everyday, natural chicuahtli, but also the Chicuahtli that was the companion of the god of the underworld. I could very well be wrong there though. That was the mythical one I referred to.
I'm just glad you were here! When I looked up the right way to spell your username to take you, it looked like you hadn't posted anything for a couple weeks.
The owls are not what they seem.
Hm, I need to do a rewatch and look out for owl references specifically
Late Night with the Devil is a really neat and scary recent movie, and it packs more owl symbolism per hour than anything else I can think of. I recommend it!
