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Muut was the personification and messenger of death in the culture of the Native American Cahuilla people of southern California and northern Mexico, and was usually depicted as an owl or as the unseen hooting of owls. [1]
In Scandinavia, Norse mythology personified death in the shape of Hel, the goddess of death and ruler over the realm of the same name, where she received a portion of the dead. [9] In the times of the Black Plague , Death would often be depicted as an old woman known by the name of Pesta, meaning "plague hag", wearing a black hood.
The association between the owl and the goddess continued through Minerva in Roman mythology, although the latter sometimes simply adopts it as a sacred or favorite bird.. For example, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Corone the crow complains that her spot as the goddess' sacred bird is occupied by the owl, which in that particular story turns out to be Nyctimene, a cursed daughter of Epopeus, king ...
Ishkitini, or the horned owl, was believed to prowl about at night killing men and animals. Many believed that when ishkitini screeched, it meant sudden death, such as a murder. If the ofunlo (screech owl) was heard, it was a sign that a child under seven in the family was going to die. Such a child was likened to a small owl.
Among the Kikuyu of Kenya, it was believed that owls were harbingers of death. If one saw an owl or heard its hoot, someone was going to die. In general, owls are viewed as harbingers of bad luck, ill health, or death. The belief is widespread even today. [55] The Hindu goddess Lakshmi with the owl
Hermes, the messenger god who acted as psychopompos; Hypnos, personification of sleep, twin of Thanatos, his Roman counterpart is Somnus; Keres, goddesses of violent death, sisters of Thanatos; Lampades, torch-bearing underworld nymphs; Limos was the goddess of starvation in ancient Greek religion. She was opposed by Demeter, goddess of grain ...
Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to guide them. Appearing frequently on funerary art, psychopomps have been depicted at different times and in different cultures as anthropomorphic entities, horses, deer, dogs, whip-poor-wills, ravens, crows, vultures, owls, sparrows, and cuckoos. In the case of birds, these are often seen in ...
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