Category: Swan Lore

One of the medieval courts in England was called a swanimote. It was held to try offenses against vert and venison, that is, against the vegetation and game of the forest. The court also heard grievances against officers of the forest. In England, a forest was an area set aside as a hunting monopoly. It…

Leda and the Swan, by Kotsonis The swan was a recurring motif in Greek and Roman mythology, generally as a bird associated with the sun. Each Greek tribe had its own favorite myths, and additional stories were being constantly imported into religion from foreign sources. The swan was the bird of the Muses. It was…

Germanic swan myths, preserved in fairy tales, are similar to those of the Norse and Celtic. In many stories women who take the shape of swans can be prevented from doing so if their plumage is taken. In other household tales a wicked step-mother throws white skirts over her step-children, and they are at once…

In the Hebrew scriptures, the swan is mentioned as being unclean, not suitable for human consumption. (Lev. 11:18; Deut. 14:16) In Christian lore, the swan is sacred to the Virgin Mary. Its swan song represents the resignation of the martyrs. The constellation Cygnus was called the Northern Cross at least from the time of Bede,…

The constellation we call Cygnus (the Swan) was identified as a separate constellation from ancient times. It was often identified as a bird, generally a duck or hen. It was probably Urakhga to the Sumerians. Certainly that constellation was a stellar bird of some kind. The Babylonians called it the Bird of the Forest. In…