The Swallow has long been associated with Folklore. European folklore has a long list of good and bad luck stories, from bringing death if one were to land on your shoulder to bringing good fortune if they nest on your roof. One thing that is universal is that if you see a swallow then summer is on the way.
One of the most interesting aspects of the applied meaning of swallows is that of navy tattoos. I have talked about this before on this blog. Swallows, represented for sailors, land. Back in the olden days when sailing wasn’t a precise an art as it is today, the sight of a swallow sparked hope. If you’d been at sea for a long time probably relief as well. Swallows being land-based birds indicated your were near the shore. the birds have been used as tattoos to represent a specific amount of nautical miles sailed, for example, two swallows indicates a journey of 10,000 nautical miles.
swallows have long been used as a representation of speed. it has had influence in the world of aeronautical thought since antiquity.
The world’s first operational transonic jet fighter,The Me-262 Schwalbe, takes its name from the swallow.
The japanese named it’s fighter plane the Kawasaki Ki-61, the flying swallow,
Here you can see the painting on my desk, almost finished. This repeat is a square tile.
and here it is in repeat.
This design is available as a card at The DM Collection
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With the exception of artists, inventors, and teenagers - we humans are diurnal daytime creatures on the whole, and although it’s one thing to be out and about during the night in a street lit urban environment, it’s a very different scenario if you find yourself in, say… oh, I don’t know, a forest per se. Where, if you’re lucky, you may hear the unmistakable cry or hoot of an Owl: natures very own nocturne, a stark reminder of the unknown peril of night, and a creature that has featured heavily in myth and folklore throughout the ages.
Daniel Mackie
Author