What is your favourite animal? Crows and ravens

What is your favorite animal?

Their iridescent black and purple feathers are like midnight sky cloaks given by impatient gods.

Their glances from electrifying ice blue eyes that cut like a knife through my soul.

I pay tribute in the form of grapes and old bread and they grace me with their presence and it’s a private honour, a moment we share together.

I cannot escape their gaze once they have me in their sights. Feeling them observe me is a privilege that takes me outside of myself and my meagre, petty, human concerns. There is a crow or perhaps a whole family who want to know me.

Throughout history, people were afraid of ravens and crows and thought them to be harbingers of death. Seeing them could be a portent of something bad happening. This never made sense to me.

For me, they represent plucky resourcefulness, wiley cleverness, the ability to see through the darkness of individual and collective difficulties towards the light of knowledge. They are playful and cheeky, intelligent and brimming with personality and individual quirks.

For me, seeing their big black forms soaring in the sky is a sign of a more interesting and magical world, only barely known to us humans.

Their ability to overcome difficulties and weather storms with grace and perseverance is inspiring.

Manu Tukutuku

The closest native bird to a crow in terms of cultural significance in Māori tradition might be the ‘manu tukutuku’ or the kite. Kites were seen as messengers to the heavens and were used in ceremonies to send messages to the gods.

Crows in the Nordic pagan tradition

In Nordic tradition, crows, particularly ravens, hold significant magical and symbolic meanings. They are often associated with Odin, the chief god in Norse mythology, who is known for wisdom, war, and death. Odin had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, which means “thought” and “memory” respectively. These ravens would fly across the world every day and bring back information to Odin, symbolizing his connection to knowledge and his far-reaching divine power.

Ravens in Nordic tradition also symbolize prophecy, fate, and the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. They are viewed as guides or messengers from the gods, providing insight and foretelling future events. This connection with the mystical and unseen aspects of life made them revered and sometimes feared creatures in the Norse culture.