Halloween is here! This festival has ancient pagan origins. In ancient times passed it marked the start of winter, and a time to bring sheep and cattle onto winter grazing pastures. For people living without electric lights, central heating and other modern comforts, the start of winter was the beginning of difficult times ahead.
They believed that at this time of year the souls of those departed had a closer link with the material world than at any other time of the year. In later times, rather than banning the festival the Catholic Church reclaimed it. ‘All Saints day’ (1 November) follows the eve of Halloween, and ‘All Souls day’, (a day to pray for the faithful departed) is 2 November.
In the ancient festivals origin, people drew upon the wildlife around them to aid their telling of folklore about witchcraft and mystery. Some of these associations with wildlife still linger today. We associate spiders, bats and owls with this spooky festival.
Image credit: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Perhaps it’s easy to understand why spiders became associated with witches. Many people are frightened of spiders. I am not brilliant with them myself. I think it’s the way they move. I know it’s irrational, and that spiders are useful and amazing animals. Yet when I catch sight of these eight legged, eight eyed individuals in the house with me I instantly want them removed. And when, after a short song-and-dance routine with a cup and piece of paper, the spider has been safely placed in the garden. I feel much, much happier. It’s unfair to spiders, but fear is not always a rational emotion, and I can understand how they came to be associated with witches.
Image credit: Chris Shields (rspb-images.com)
Bats and Owls are also an important part of folklore. They are predominantly nocturnal, with exceptions, the short-eared owl, for example, flies during daylight. Although many other British mammals are nocturnal, and don’t have any ‘spooky’ associations. So their nocturnal habits do not fully explain why we associate owls and bats with creepy mystery stories and dark nights.
This is particularly odd when you consider that bats have often started hibernating at Halloween. It depends on the weather from year to year, but Halloween is not a reliable time to see bats. As insect eaters they are at their most active during summer months.
Image credit: Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
Owls are present in our skies all year round. So unlike bats, there is every bit as good a possibility of seeing hearing them at Halloween as there is in mid-summer. In fairness, owls are also associated with wisdom and learning, as well as the spooky connections of eerie stories played out at Halloween. The tawny owl with ‘its nocturnal habits and eerie, easily imitated call, have led to mythical association of the tawny owl with bad luck and death.’ ‘...This stereotypical call is actually a duet, with the female making the kew-wick sound, and the male responding hooo.’ (Wikipedia)
Image credit: John Bridges (rspb-images.com)
Watching the silent flight and white silhouette of the barn owl, it needs very little imagination to see why this bird became associated with mystery, folklore and legend. Its previous common name was ‘ghost owl’. Their screech of a cry helps link our imaginations with the supernatural. The exceptional softness of the feathers is what allows the barn owl to fly in such a silent manner. However, these feathers offer little protection against the rain. Barn owls often hunted rodents in barns on rainy nights allowing them to hunt without getting wet. Barn owls consume a lot of rodents, which makes them useful for agriculture. However, changes in land use and agriculture have meant the loss of many traditional barns as hunting habitats for barn owls. They are currently listed as being an ‘Amber’ status bird, and are a bird of conservation concern.
When out celebrating Halloween, I am glad we share this world with spiders, even though the immediate sight of them doesn’t always fill me with joy. However, seeing the flutter of a bat, or hearing their wing beats on a bat detector is for me, a joyful experience. And the barn owl flying slowly late at night is something beautiful to behold, possibly even magical. I’m hoping we still continue to see them flying around for many more Halloweens to come.