What does folklore mean? Folklore is defined by the lexicographers at Oxford Dictionaries as The traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth. The ten best-known myths and legends in Irish and Celtic mythology. Myths and legends have been a part of Irish culture and folklore since the very beginning. Ireland is a place which appreciates storytelling and as such, tales of goblins and fairies are commonplace.

The sparrow is a familiar little bird, and is widespread throughout Britain and Ireland (with the possible exception of upland and Northern districts). It is also widespread throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, and thanks to imports from settlers, they are prevalent in North and South America and Australia.In recent years numbers have been in decline and it is now less common to see flocks of them feeding or chirping from rooftops, although you should have no trouble spotting the house sparrow, especially in urban parks where people feed them.There is an incredible amount of folklore and superstition surrounding these friendly little birds and they are even mentioned in the bible! I'm going to describe how to identify the different types of sparrow, address what we can do about their decline, and discuss how important they have been historically with all the legends surrounding them.The two most common species are the house sparrow and the tree sparrow.

Passer domesticusThis is the most common species of sparrow and measures 14-15 cm in length. It is a sociable bird and favours areas of human habitation for nesting and roosting, often living in large flocks on rooftops in cities and in agricultural areas. The adult male has a grey crown, cheeks, and rump. The nape, sides of the crown, back, and wings are chestnut brown, and the underparts are pale grey.

It has a black throat and breast, dark bill, and reddish legs. In winter the chestnut colour is less intense and the bill is paler. The adult female has mainly brown upperparts, including the crown, and the back is streaked with buff. The underparts are pale grey, and it has a pale supercilium (stripe) behind the eye. Juvenile birds are similar to adult females except the plumage pattern is less distinct. Passer montanusThe tree sparrow is the more rural counterpart of the house sparrow, choosing holes in trees as its preferred nesting site.

It likes untidy arable farms taking advantage of frequent grain spills, and can sometimes be observed feeding alongside the house sparrow in this location. Outside of breeding season, the tree sparrow forms large flocks and feeds in fields alongside finches and buntings.The sexes are similar. Adult birds have a chestnut cap and a striking black patch on the otherwise whitish cheeks and side of head. It has a black bib on otherwise greyish-white underparts, and the back and wings are streaked brown with white wing-bars. Juvenile birds are similar but the facial markings are darker and less distinct.VoiceThe tree sparrow utters the same familiar chirping of the house sparrow, but it also has a sharp tik-tik in flight.

Sparrows have been represented in literature throughout history, from the ancient Greek and Roman poets, to numerous religious texts, and later by Chaucer and Shakespeare. The brothers Grimm wrote a about one.In the bible, they were used as offerings given by the very poor, and represent the concern of God for even the smallest and most insignificant lifeforms. In other texts the sparrow has been used to represent the presence of God and His love for everything.Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Fathers will. They are the scientific names of the breed, for the bird geeks it separates the different species of birds into different groups or 'families'. In this instance sparrows are passerine birds, 'Passeridae', then each sub species has it's own name under that title eg Passer montanus and Passer domesticus. All birds in one category will have similar characteristics, interestingly passerine birds are perching song birds of the order Passeriformes, which took their name from the house sparrow (Passer domesticus)!Now you know the secret geek in me!

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Many birds are steeped in lore but the owl is a raptor with no shortage of superstitions. Here are five of our favorites:Owls are famous for their and it was thought that you could gain better eyesight from them.

In England, the method was to cook owl eggs until they were ash, then incorporate them into a potion. Folklore from India had a more direct method: just eat owl eyes., including some Native American tribes. For instance, dreaming of an owl signified approaching death for Apache people.

Boreal owl calls were a call from spirits to the Cree people, and if you answered back to the owl with a whistle and didn't get a response, it was a sign that your death was imminent. On the other hand, Dakota Hidatsa people believed that burrowing owls acted as protective spirits for warriors, so not all owls were bad.For some cultures,. Among Australian Aborigines, owls are the spirits of women and so are sacred. The Kwakiutl people also thought owls were the souls of people and shouldn't be harmed because if the owl was killed, the person whose soul the owl carried would also die. In fact, many different cultures believed that a person became an owl after death.Owls are of course associate with witchcraft. Greeks and Romans believed witches could turn themselves into owls, and in this form would come suck the blood of babies. In other cultures, owls were simply the messengers of witches, or hooted to warn of the approach of a witch.Though the owl's nocturnal activity was at the root of many superstitions, the amazing ability of an owl to rotate its neck to extraordinary degrees was even turned into a myth.

In England it was believed that if you walked around a tree that an owl was perched in, it would follow you with its eyes, around and around until it wrung its own neck.Want to make sure you know truths and facts about owls? Test your trivia knowledge with this.Would you like your photo to be featured as? And add your photos to the pool!