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Beliefs about Animals
There are no traces in Irish legend of animal worship, but many
concerning the influence of animals upon human life, and of their
interference with human affairs.
The peasants believe that the domestic animals know all about us,
especially the dog and cat. They listen to everything that is said;
they watch the expression of the face, and can even read the thoughts.
The Irish say it is not safe to ask a question of a dog, for he
may answer, and should he do so the questioner will surely die.
The position of the animal race in the life scheme is certainly
full of mystery. Gifted with extraordinary intelligence, yet with
dumb souls vainly struggling for utterance, they seem like prisoned
spirits in bondage, suffering the punishment, perhaps, for sin in
some former human life, and now waiting the completion of the cycle
of expiration that will advance them again to the human state.
Dogs
Some very weird superstitions exist in Ireland concerning the howlings
of dogs. If a dog is heard to howl near the house of a sick person,
all hope of his recovery is given up and the patient himself sinks
into despair, knowing that his doom is sealed. But the Irish are
not alone in holding this superstition. The Egyptians, Hebrews,
Greeks, and Romans all looked on the howling of the dog as ominous.
The howling of the dog was considered by these nations as the first
note of the funeral dirge and the signal that the coming of death
was near.
But the origin of the superstition may be traced back to Egypt,
where dogs and dog-faced gods were objects of worship; probably
because Sirius, the Dog-star, appeared precisely before the rising
of the Nile, and thereby gave the people a mystic and supernatural
warning to prepare for the overflow.
The strange superstition concerning the howling of dogs, when,
as is supposed, they are conscious of the approach of the Spirit
of death, and see him though he is shrouded and invisible to human
eyes, may be found pervading the legends of all nations from the
earliest period down to the present time, for it still exists in
full force amongst all classes, the educated, as well as the unlettered
peasantry; and to this day the howling of a dog where a sick person
is lying is regarded in Ireland in all grades of society with pale
dismay as a certain sign of approaching death.
Cats
The Irish have always looked on cats as evil and mysteriously connected
with some demoniacal influence. On entering a house the usual salutation
is, "God save all here, except the cat." Even the cake
on the griddle may be blessed, but no one says, God bless the cat."
It is believed that the devil often assumes the form of these animals.
The familiar of a witch is always a black cat; and it is supposed
that black cats have powers and faculties quite different from all
other of the feline tribe. They are endowed with reason, can understand
conversations, and are quite able to talk if they considered it
advisable and judicious to join in the conversation. Their temperament
is exceedingly unamiable, and are artful, malignant, and skilled
in deception, and people should be very cautious in caressing them,
for they have the venomous heart and the evil eve, and are ever
ready to do an injury. Yet the liver of a black cat has the singular
power to excite love when properly administered. If ground to powder
and infused into potion, the recipient is fated to love passionately
the person who offers it and has worked the charm.
Yet it is singular that the blood of the black cat is esteemed
of wonderful power when mixed with herbs, for charms; and also of
great efficacy in potions for the cure of disease; but three drops
of the blood are sufficient, and it is generally obtained by nipping
off a small piece of the tail.
Birds
The Cuckoo and Robin Redbreast
It is very unlucky to kill the cuckoo or break its eggs, for it
brings fine weather; but most unlucky of all things is to kill the
robin redbreast. The robin is God's own bird, sacred and holy, and
held in the greatest veneration because of the beautiful tradition
current amongst the people, that it was the robin plucked out the
sharpest thorn that was piercing Christ's brow on the cross; and
in so doing the breast of the bird was dyed red with the Saviour's
blood, and so has remained ever since a sacred and blessed sign
to preserve the robin from harm and make it beloved of all men.
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