Cultural depictions of ravens

Ravens in the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona.

There are many references to ravens in legends and literature. Most of these refer to the widespread common raven. Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven has long been considered a bird of ill omen and of interest to creators of myths and legends.

Symbolism

The raven is the national bird of Bhutan, and it adorns the royal hat, representing the deity Gonpo Jarodonchen (Mahakala with a Raven's head; one of the important guardian deities of Bhutanese culture.) It is the official bird of the Yukon and of the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Main article: Raven banner

A modern reconstruction of the raven banner based on surviving contemporary representations.

The raven was a common device used by the Vikings. Ragnar Lodbrok had a raven banner called Reafan, embroidered with the device of a raven. It was said that if this banner fluttered, Lodbrok would carry the day, but if it hung lifeless the battle would be lost. King Harald Hardrada also had a raven banner, called Landeythan (land-waster). The bird also appears in the folklore of the Isle of Man, a former Viking colony, and it is used as a symbol on their coat of arms.

The raven was also used as the key charge in the coat of arms of Janos Hunyadi. From this usage, it has been used as the title of a herald in the Society for Creative Anachronism's Kingdom of Drachenwald.

As a carrion bird, ravens became associated with the dead and with lost souls. In Sweden they are known as the ghosts of murdered persons.^[1]

Mythology

Main article: Raven in mythology

"The Twa Corbies", Illustration by Arthur Rackham to Some British Ballads

In Norse mythology, the Ravens Hugin and Munin sit on the god Odin's shoulders and bring to his ears all the news they see and hear; their names are Thought and Memory. Odin sends them out with each dawn to fly over the world, so he can learn everything that happens. The Old English word for a raven was hræfn; in Old Norse it was hrafn; the word was frequently used in combinations as a kenning for bloodshed and battle.

In Irish mythology, the goddess An Morrígan alighted on the hero Cú Chulainn's shoulder in the form of a raven after his death.^[2] In other ancient Celtic mythology, ravens were associated with the Welsh god Bran the Blessed (the brother of Branwen), whose name translates to "raven." According to the Mabinogion, Bran's head was buried in the White Hill of London as a talisman against invasion.^[3]

The raven also has a prominent role in the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, including the Tsimishian, Haida, Heiltsuk, Tlingit, Kwakwaka'wakw, Coast Salish, Koyukons, and Inuit. The raven in these indigenous peoples' mythology is the Creator of the world, but it is also considered a trickster god.^{[citation needed]} For instance, in Tlingit culture, there are two different raven characters which can be identified, although they are not always clearly differentiated. One is the creator raven, responsible for bringing the world into being and who is sometimes considered to be the same individual as the Owner of Daylight. The other is the childish raven, always selfish, sly, conniving, and hungry. Other notable stories tell of the Raven stealing and releasing the sun, and of the Raven tempting the first humans out of a clam shell.

According to Livy, the Roman general Marcus Valerius Corvus (c. 370-270 BC) had a raven settle on his helmet during a combat with a gigantic Gaul, which distracted the enemy's attention by flying in his face.^[4]

A raven is said to have protected Saint Benedict of Nursia by taking away a loaf of bread poisoned by jealous monks after he blessed it.

Of special note is the Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka'wakw of British Columbia who exposed boys' placentas to ravens to encourage future prophetic visions, thereby associating the raven with prophecy, similar to the traditions of Scandinavia.

The Hindu deity Shani is often represented as being mounted on a giant black raven or crow.^[5] The crow (sometimes a raven or vulture) is Shani's Vahana. As protector of property, Shani is able to repress the thieving tendencies of these birds.

Monotheistic Religions

The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

A raven on the coat-of-arms of the Polish aristocratic Clan Ślepowron, to which Kazimierz Pułaski belonged.

In the Bible, the Jewish and Christian holy book, ravens are mentioned on numerous occasions throughout the Old Testament. In the Book of Judges, one of Kings of the Midianites defeated by Gideon is called "Oreb" (עורב) which means "Raven".

Genesis 8:7 shows the raven as the first bird released from the Ark. In I Kings 17:4 God commands the ravens to feed the prophet Elijah. Job ponders who feeds the ravens in Job 38:41. King Solomon is described as having hair as black as a raven in the Song of Songs 5:11.

The New Testament

In the New Testament as well, ravens are used by Jesus as an illustration of God's provision in Luke 12:24.

The Qur'an

In the Qur'an's version of the story of Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam, a raven is mentioned as the creature who taught Cain how to bury his murdered brother, in Al-Ma'ida (The Repast) 5:31.

Saint Vincent of Saragossa

According to the legend of the fourth-century Iberian Christian martyr Saint Vincent of Saragossa, after St. Vincent was executed ravens protected his body from being devoured by wild animals, until his followers could recover the body. His body was taken to what is now known as Cape St. Vincent in southern Portugal. A shrine was erected over his grave, which continued to be guarded by flocks of ravens. The Arab geographer Al-Idrisi noted this constant guard by ravens, for which the place was named by him كنيسة الغراب "Kanīsah al-Ghurāb" (Church of the Raven). King Afonso Henriques (1139–1185) had the body of the saint exhumed in 1173 and brought it by ship to Lisbon, still accompanied by the ravens. This transfer of the relics is depicted on the coat of arms of Lisbon.

The ravens on the coat of arms of Lisbon recall the story of St. Vincent's ravens.

Emperor Frederick Barbarossa

In the legends about the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, depicting him as sleeping with his knights in a cave in the Kyffhäuser mountain in Thuringia or Mount Untersberg in Bavaria, it is told that when the ravens cease to fly around the mountain he will awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness. According to the story, the Emperor's eyes are half closed in sleep, but now and then he raises his hand and sends a boy out to see if the ravens have stopped flying.^[6]

The Tower of London

Main article: The ravens of the Tower of London

Ravens in the Tower of London

According to legend, the Kingdom of England will fall if the resident ravens of the Tower of London are removed. It had been thought that there have been at least six ravens in residence at the tower for centuries. It was said that Charles II ordered their removal following complaints from John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer.^[7] However, they were not removed because Charles was then told of the legend. Charles, following the time of the English Civil War, superstition or not, was not prepared to take the chance, and instead had the observatory moved to Greenwich.

The earliest known reference to a Tower raven is a picture in the newspaper The Pictorial World in 1883.^[8] This and scattered subsequent references, both literary and visual, which appear in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, place them near the monument commemorating those beheaded at the tower, popularly known as the “scaffold.” This strongly suggests that the ravens, which are notorious for gathering at gallows, were originally used to dramatize tales of imprisonment and execution at the tower told to tourists by the Yeomen Warders.^[9] There is evidence that the original ravens were donated to the tower by the Earls of Dunraven,^[10] perhaps because of their association with the Celtic raven-god Bran.^[11] However wild ravens, which were once abundant in London and often seen around meat markets (such as nearby Eastcheap) feasting for scraps, could have roosted at the Tower in earlier times.^[12]

During the Second World War, most of the Tower's ravens perished through shock during bombing raids, leaving a only a mated pair named "Mabel" and "Grip." Shortly before the Tower reopened to the public, Mabel flew away, leaving Grip despondent. A couple of weeks later, Grip also flew away, probably in search of his mate. The incident was reported in several newspapers, and some of the stories contained the first references in print to the legend that the British Empire would fall if the ravens left the tower.^[13] Since the Empire was dismantled shortly afterward, those who are superstitious might interpret events as a confirmation of the legend. Before the tower reopened to the public on 1 January 1946, care was taken to ensure that a new set of ravens was in place.^[14]

Classic literature

The raven is often depicted in classic literature. William Shakespeare refers to the raven more often than to any other bird; works such as Othello and Macbeth provide examples. In Charles Dickens' novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, the raven "Grip" is an important character. The raven is used as a supernatural messenger in Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven". In this and in Dickens' book, the bird's power of speech is important. In other works of literature, Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta and Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene, the raven's darkly ominous image is also employed. In The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, Roäc son of Carc is the leader of the Ravens of the Lonely Mountain.^[15]

In the well-known ballad The Three Ravens, a slain knight is depicted from the point of view of ravens who seek to eat him but are prevented by his loyal hawks, hounds and leman (lover).

The first name "Bram" is derived from a convergence of two separate etymological sources, one being an abbreviation of "Abraham", but the other being the Gaelic word "bran", meaning "raven".

The Raven King, a human mage who once ruled northern England in Susanna Clarke's 2005 novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, was often attended by ravens as his familiars. His flag was a black raven on a white field.

Film

• Damien: Omen II The titular teenage Antichrist has one as his protector.
• Edgar Allan Poe's poem, The Raven has been made into films, first in 1915, with remakes in 1935 and 1963.

References

1. ^ Schwan, Mark (January 1990). "Raven: The Northern Bird of Paradox". Alaska Fish and Game. http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=birds.raven. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 
2. ^ “The Death of Cu Chulainn”. Celtic Literature Collective.
3. ^ “Branwen daughter of Llŷr”. The Four Branches of the Mabinogi. Trans. for example by Patrick K. Ford, The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales (1977).
4. ^ Titus Livius. Periochae. Book 7:10.
5. ^ Mythology of the Hindus By Charles Coleman p.134
6. ^ Brown, R. A., The Origins of Modern Europe, Boydell Press, 1972, p. 172
7. ^ Camelot Village: Tower of London
8. ^ Boria Sax, "How Ravens Came to the Tower of London," Society and Animals 15, no. 3 (2007b), pp. 272-274.
9. ^ Boria Sax, "How Ravens Came to the Tower of London," Society and Animals 15, no. 3 (2007b), pp. 270-281.
10. ^ Maev Kennedy, "Tower’s Raven Mythology May Be a Victorian Flight of Fantasy," The Guardian, November 15, 2004, p. 1.
11. ^ Boria Sax, "Medievalism, Paganism, and the Tower Ravens," The Pomegranate:The International Journal of Pagan Studies 9, no. 1 (2007), pp. 71-73.
12. ^ Jerome, Fiona. Tales from the Tower: 2006. pp. 148-9
13. ^ Sax, Boria. "The Tower Ravens: Invented Tradition, Fakelore, or Modern Myth." Storytelling, Self, and Society 6, no. 3 (2010): p. 234.
14. ^ "Tower's raven mythology may be a Victorian flight of fantasy", The Guardian 15 November 2004.
15. ^ The Hobbit. Ballantine Books. 1985. ISBN 0-345-33207-5. 

• Article in Guardian about Tower of London raven myth