In medieval times they would have been found scavenging near battlegrounds, field hospitals, and the gallows in search of carrion. Like other corvids magpies have long been associated with death. It’s why so many superstitions and old wives’ tales arose around this morbid subject. This rudimentary way of explaining the world gave rise to many of the superstitions that people still believe in or at least acknowledge today.ĭeath, in particular, could be very difficult to predict or explain and people quite rightfully were fearful of death and the unknown. Often this meant they linked the appearance of an animal or a natural phenomenon such as a change in weather with an event that occurred soon after that could not be otherwise explained. Without a proper understanding of how the world worked our ancestors would try and explain mysterious events by linking them to supernatural causes. The Romans, for example, believed that the magpie was highly intelligent with excellent reasoning abilities, and in Ancient Greece magpies were sacred to Bacchus the god of wine.įurther afield some tribes of Native Americans believed that wearing a magpie feather was a sign of fearlessness, while others considered the magpie to be a sacred messenger of the creator, or even a guardian with shamanic properties.īut why did the magpie get such a bad rap and how did these superstitions come about? However, before the spread of Christianity the magpie was an important symbolic bird often associated with good luck or fortune. Folklore has surrounded magpies in the UK and the rest of Europe for 100s of years and Victorians were so fearful of magpies that they nearly hunted them to extinction. In Britain there is probably no other wild bird that is associated with superstition as much as the magpie.
For even the most rationale of sceptics can find their faith in reality floundering upon seeing a magpie. Do you salute magpies? Do you worry that if one crosses your path your day will be filled with doom? If so, you’re not alone.
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