OMENS (Lat. onion. Mtt. osmen, prognostic. from os, mouth: connected with auris, ak. ors, ons, Lin]. nusir, OChurch Slay. ?who, (loth. 0056, AS. Marc, Eng. ear), Events supposed to presage a future event. From prehistoric time it has been a universal belief that any im portant occurrence is preceded by omens, or, to use the traditional English word. by 'signs.' which will allow any observer to forecast what is to be. The notion may be regarded as an an ticipation of modern science, but in the absence of adequate knowledge. attempts at prediction were of necessity fantastic., and any phenomenon was supposed to indicate good or evil, according to the effect which it produced op the imagina tion. Hence arose a mass of popular rules, handed down from generation to generation, and which exhibit all over the world great similarity. The signs noted in Anglo-American folklore are as old as any, and in part (late back to a period antedating civilization. Among these omens a great number relate to the principal events of life, birth, marriage, and death. The last. especially, as the chief object of anxiety, has occupied a share of attention sufficiently proved by the bad sense attached to the terms fatal and ominous, while a multitude of occur rences, frequently of an insignificant character. are popularly held to betoken the speedy ending of life. Thus, it is said in popular lore that a death will occur if a batch of bread, in baking. cracks across the top, if the dame of a candle ex hibits the excrescence called a 'winding-sheet.' if a person carries through the house a hoe or spade, or if a rose or other plant blossoms in the fall. Again, if during a funeral any one passes between the carriages, or if the procession re turns by the same road as that which conducted it to the cemetery, another death will occur. In undertaking a journey, good or ill luck is con jectured from the animals encountered on the path. If a rabbit or (in other localities) a squir rel cross the track, the expedition will be for tunate if the creature pass from left to right. the reverse if from right to left; in the latter case, the misfortune can be averted by making a cross-mark with the feet. The passage of a eat.
especially a black cat, is bad luck, unless the traveler immediately turns. So omens are taken from the flight of birds. If, as one leaves his house, a crow tlies in front, it is said to be an evil portent, while the sight of a redbird is held to be a token of lovers' meeting. Hearing the cry of a whippoorwill when about to start on a journey indicates danger. Such beliefs are entirely in the spirit of ancient augury, according to which especial attention ought to be paid to the position and the notes of birds which may be met on the way. Other omens are taken from in sects and plants. Thus, the color of the first butterfly sec n in the spring is said to show the color of the first new dress„ the chirping of a cricket to foretell sorrow, the advent of a bumble bee into the house to be a sign of news or com pany. Marks about the person of babes are supposed to he of character. Thus in English nursery lore, a straight line on the palm is regarded as a token of early death. while white and blue spots on the nails are taken to denote good or evil fortune. From such notions. originally of a simple nature, came to be de veloped an elaborate science of palmistry. When systems of rules had once been established. and connected with life, they .eontinued with great obstinacy. so that the perception of failure in the validity of such expectations was met, not by discrediting the theory. but by increasing the complication of the maxims. A large mass of popular sayings relate to the determination of the weather. supposed to he predictable by means of signs often of a nature highly fantastic. The weather in each of the twelve days after Christ mas is said to indicate that to be expected for every month in the year. Omens are derived from the actions of animals: if the winter is to be severe, they lay up additional supplies, or arc more careful in constructing their habitations. The collection and classification of omens ing to all countries has not yet proceeded far enough to determine bow tar they agree in ferent regions.