Saluting Magpies

Walking down the street your morning routine is interrupted by a flash of black and white wings. Settling down on the street in front of you is a largish blackbird with a few white spots -- a magpie! Not wanting to ruin what could be a great day, you tip your hat and say, "Good morning Mr. Magpie. How is your lady wife today?" Congratulations -- you've just ward off bad luck by saluting a magpie.

Saluting Magpies

Seems little strange, doesn't it, that saluting a bird could ward off bad luck? Yet in many parts of the United Kingdom spying a single magpie is considered an omen of bad fortune in saluting it is a way of showing the proper respect in hopes that the magpie won't pass on some of the misfortune follows it.

Animals and superstition have long gone hand-in-hand, but what is it about the magpie that people dread? It probably has to do with the bird's mischievous nature, and behaviour patterns that cause trouble for humans. These behaviours evolved into a general dislike of the bird, which in turn became links to superstition that magpies were "bad".

Bad behaviours

Magpies are often referred to as "thieving magpies" due to their fancy for shiny objects, such as jewellery in shiny coins. Certainly would be considered bad luck to have an expensive ring disappear from out of your house. Also magpies are not blessed with it pretty singing voice. Related to crows, the cries of the magpies are very similar.

Magpies will supplement their diet of insects by reading the nests of other birds and eating their eggs and young. When a gamekeeper is attempting to raise a family of songbirds and loses the next generation hungry magpies, one can easily see how the magpie's reputation would be tarnished in the eyes of the gamekeeper. To the gamekeeper, and to those like him, seeing the magpie anywhere near their breeding grounds would be bad luck indeed

Other Magpie Superstitions

Magpies are linked to superstition in other cultures as well. In Scotland a single magpie near the window of a house is not just bad luck, the sign of impending death; possibly because they were believed to carry a drop of the devil's blood under the tongue. Some believe that the reason the magpie is cursed is because it was the only bird that didn't sing and comfort Jesus when he was crucified on the cross. In German, Italian, French, and it Norwegian folklore and magpies are often depicted as thieves. Yet in China the name of the bird is translated as "happiness magpie" in spotting one is considered a sign of good luck.

Not All Bad

Yet they're also very clever birds and some can be taught to speak as parrots can. Likewise magpies meet for life; this, combined with me superstition that one magpie is bad luck, probably behind the origin of this rhyme that is related to the magpie:

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret never to be told.