The Crow and the Raven – Spirits of a Feather in Animal Folklore

In myths and folktales, crows and ravens are seldom identified by species. Rather, dark-feathered birds are often described simply as “crows”, “ravens”, or “black birds,” and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. This tendency appears across cultures and texts, from popular storytelling to esoteric works like De Occulta Philosophia. Ravens, crows, even jackdaws and others are grouped together under this broad label because of common traits – their dark plumage, keen intelligence, scavenging behavior, and association with liminal spaces. Because what matters in a sacralized context is the symbolism of the black bird, which consistently evokes mystery, death, and prophecy.

For example, in Romanian folklore, the personification of Death as a goddess might appear as a raven, a crow, or even a black kite. The choice of bird is often flexible, emphasizing the function and symbolism of the creature rather than its biological identity. Nevertheless, Romanian tradition does at times draw distinctions between crows and ravens.

Crow, the Shadow-Bird

In Romanian folklore, the crow is seen as an oracular bird that can predict the future and foretell the weather. It is considered the shadow of the raven and shares many of the raven’s darker associations, such as death, darkness, and theft. Still, it is more complex than that, even representing the spirits of ancestors and the mysteries of the Otherworld in some beliefs.

Their yearly absence in summer is sometimes explained as the birds traveling to the Otherworld, where they bathe their young in the waters between borders. Other times, it is explained as the crows carrying seeds to monks and saints to sustain them, for they are holy and thus live alone on remote islands.

The belief in crows as helpers also appears in fairy tales, where the birds may bring the hero food or magical objects. In children’s folklore, the crow is even imagined as a kind of tooth fairy. When a child loses a baby tooth, they throw it over their shoulder onto the roof, asking the crow to take it and give them a new tooth made of steel.

Above all, though, the crow is most strongly connected to death, either as a personification of it or a funerary messenger. Its cawing, especially at night, is thought to foretell a death in the family, or at the very least, a coming storm. Yet not all signs are negative. For example, when crows gather on a house, it can also mean abundance and prosperity.

Likewise, the crow has long been associated with witchcraft. Some believe that the souls of witches and sorcerers can take the form of crows or ravens, which is consistent with some Slavic beliefs, too. And just as in Ancient Rome, their feathers, bones, and organs were used in magical charms and spells.

Raven, the Sacred Messenger

The raven is also a funerary messenger or personification of death in Romanian folklore. But unlike the crow, it has a higher sacred status. The raven is marked as sacred by the cross-shaped pattern on its beak, and to harm it is to bring misfortune not only on oneself, but on the whole community. It is said that harming a raven (or a crow in some regions) is a transgression that could bring hail or even drought for several years.

In Romanian folktales, the raven is often given important tasks or sent on missions by heroes. Many of the tales and beliefs about the raven were absorbed into Romanian folklore through various cultural influences throughout history.

In Greece, it was sacred to Apollo, god of prophecy and the Sun, and its flight was read as an omen. The bird also appeared in depictions of Mithra, the Iranian Sun god. And in Mithraism, the mystery religion likewise present in Roman-Dacia, the first stage of initiation was called Corax (“Raven/Crow”), and its symbols included the raven, beaker, and the caduceus representing its planetary god Mercury.

Perhaps it is that lingering influence that inspired the belief that a raven’s appearance during magical work symbolizes divine favor or initiation. As in many ancient traditions, the Romanian folk raven is a messenger between worlds, a mediator between humans and the divine, the living and the Otherworld.

Lore and Reality

Stories and beliefs about ravens and crows are based on our ancestors’ observations and perceptions of them. These birds are among the smartest in the animal kingdom and can even mimic human speech. Because of their intelligence, people have long seen them as symbols of wisdom and prophecy. Crows can also form bonds with humans, remember faces, and adapt to our behavior, which makes them equally mysterious and familiar.

Their scavenging behaviour, however, is one of the most widespread reasons why they appear so often in myths. Ravens and wolves, for example, hunt together, they have a symbiotic relationship. Ravens lead wolves to prey, and wolves leave carrion behind for the ravens. Ancient people saw this relationship and believed the birds could summon death by calling the wolves.

The Bird of Prophets

Despite its darker aspects, the raven or crow has redeeming qualities in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. In the Bible, God sent ravens to bring food to the prophet Elijah in the wilderness.

In Talmudic tradition, ravens were the first to show humans how to bury the dead. After Cain killed Abel, a raven revealed to Adam and Eve how to lay their son to rest. In the Qur’an, Cain learns the burial rites by watching a raven.

In the story of Noah, a raven was sent to search for dry land after the flood. It never returned, supposedly because it became distracted by carrion. For this, Noah cursed it so that its feathers turned black, it would live on carrion, and its young would hatch only in winter.

Wings Across the World

Crows and ravens have held powerful and often contradictory meanings across cultures and mythologies, appearing as both harbingers of death and bearers of wisdom, prophecy, and renewal.

In Hindu literature, the crow is sanctified as the sage Kakabhushundi. In Tulsidas’s Rāmcaritmānas, he is an immortal devotee of Rama, fated to remain alive on Earth until the end of the Kali Yuga. Though cursed into crow form, he chose to remain that way after witnessing a vision of the infinite cosmos within the mouth of Rama when he was a child. In the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha, he dwells as a crow atop Mount Meru, serene through countless cosmic cycles.

In Irish mythology, the war goddess Badb, an aspect of the Morrígan, was believed to take the form of a crow, spreading fear and confusion on the battlefield, and her cries were said to foretell bloodshed and death.

In Norse mythology, Odin’s two ravens, Huginn (“thought”) and Muninn (“memory” or “mind”), flew across Midgard as his eyes and messengers, reflecting shamanic practices of spirit flight. Similar ideas appear in European folklore, where witches and seers were believed to transform into crows to escape danger, guide heroes, or spy on their enemies.

In Greco-Roman tradition, ravens and crows were likewise funerary messengers and solar birds of prophecy. Associated with Apollo, ravens were believed to deliver divine messages and even to have marked the center of the world at Delphi.

In East Asia, the crow is a symbol of the sun, creative power, and divinity depicted as a Three-Legged-Crow. In China, the three-legged Sanzuwu represents the sun and cosmic order. In Japan, Yatagarasu is a symbol of divine guidance and heavenly will. In Korea, the Samjok-o represents the sun and sovereignty. The three-legged form of the solar crow is believed to symbolize the phases of the Sun: dawn, zenith, and dusk.

Across the Americas, the raven and crow again appear as creators and bringers of light. The Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni hold that without the Crow, the world would still lie in darkness. Other Indigenous traditions see the bird as a manifestation of the Great Spirit, who helped shape the Earth, sometimes called the Dark Mother.

Dark Wings in Poetry

No discussion of corvid lore is complete without Edgar Allan Poe’s Raven. More than any other work, this poem immortalized the dark bird in Western imagination:

“And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!”

For Poe, as for many poets at heart, the bird is the shadow, grief, prophet, and trickster adversary. The raven is an unyielding oracle of truth, refusing comfort yet revealing the inevitability of fate.