Why do Europeans like owls so much?

I felt strange when I first arrived in Europe. Why do Europeans like owls so much? Many bookstores have owl signs, and each store also has many cultural products related to owls: no matter men, women, children, good students or gangsters, there is always one for you.

In our Han culture in China, owls are ominous, and they are called "unfilial birds", "mourning birds" and "chasing birds". This puzzled the newcomers to China: Why do Europeans like this unlucky animal?

I didn't realize this was a problem at first, and I felt very strange, but I never went into it. It was not until I went to Greece in the summer of 20 16 that I realized how important owls are to Europeans.

If in western Europe, owls are only common. Then in Greece, especially Athens, owls are an inevitable image. You don't need to ask specifically, every tour guide will take the initiative to introduce you: the patron saint of Athens is Athena, and the sacred bird of Athena is an owl. It is said that this bird is responsible for sending messages to Athena at night, and there are even rumors that Athena herself often goes out as an owl to find out information. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, and the sacred bird owl in charge of her news source becomes a symbol of wisdom and erudition.

But why did Athena choose the owl as the divine bird instead of other birds? It is difficult to find relevant information now, but this may be related to owls still seeing at night. After all, this function is one of the necessary skills for the position of "night spy". Think about it carefully, isn't the so-called wisdom actually the ability to see the truth in the dark and sort out ideas in chaos?

How tall was Athena and her beloved owl in ancient Greece? In the mid-5th century, Athens' city-state currency, one of the most important international currencies at that time, was designed to look like Athena on the front and an owl on the back. This owl silver coin, as the epitome of ancient Athenian civilization, is the most valuable ancient coin in the world now.

On all kinds of ancient vessels unearthed in Greece, the image of owl is also the most commonly used.

At that time, the incomparably powerful ancient Greek civilization had deeply influenced the civilization process of the whole European continent and even the whole world. This can be confirmed by the love of owls in Europe today. The British and American civilizations that originated in the European continent also absorbed this cultural meaning, so we will see that there is a saying in English that they are "as smart as owls".

Owl, as an important cultural symbol, has been embedded in tourist routes by local tourism. In addition to the Greeks we just mentioned, there are French people who are deeply influenced by ancient Greek civilization and rich in thinkers.

In Notre Dame de Dijon, an eastern French city, there is a legend that touching a stone owl can bring good luck. Because of this legend, this poor owl was almost touched by tourists like an owl.

Because this owl is so famous, the local tourism bureau designed it as a tourist mascot, opened up an owl tour, and marked all the places worth visiting in Dijon with the owl logo. Follow the brass owl arrow embedded in the road and you can visit the most important scenic spots in Dijon.

Is Catway Eagle, a popular travel website all over the world, also based on this concept?

It is worth mentioning that, although they are all called "owls" in Chinese, chouette, the tourist mascot of Dijon, France, and hibou, the protagonist and symbol of wisdom in this article, are actually two different species. Chouette refers to this smaller and cuter owl:

For this reason, in French, chouette means "great, beautiful and beautiful". French mantra c'est chouette (this is great! This is so beautiful! ) That's how it came about. But you can't say Sybil.