Hummingbirds in Mythology : Hummingbirds are found only in the Western Hemisphere, so they cannot be found in fairy tales, myths, and legends of European and African peoples. But in Indian mythology, there are many stories associated with these tiny birds. In one of the legends of the Mayan people, it is said that the hummingbird is the sun that put on a mask in order to gain the favor of a beautiful woman who personifies the moon. Another legend tells that the first two hummingbirds were created from small feathers left after the creation of other birds. The God who created them was so pleased with the result that he arranged a magnificent wedding for them.
Butterflies appeared first, then flower petals covered the ground with a carpet, and spiders from their cobwebs weaved a wedding path. The sun sent down its rays, in their light, the groom shone dazzlingly with iridescent red and green colors. The invited guests saw that as soon as he turned away from the sun, his feathers again became the same gray as they were originally created.
The third legend of the Mayan Indians tells of a hummingbird piercing the tongue of ancient kings. According to legend, when the sacred scroll sprinkled with the blood of the king was burned, prophetic ancestors appeared in the smoke.
The Mojave legend tells of the original time when people living in the underworld of darkness sent a hummingbird to get it to the light. After a long journey, the little bird found a narrow passage that led to the upper solar world, in which people live to this day.
In one of the legends of the Jatibonicu people from Puerto Rico, it is said about two young people who loved each other but belonged to warring tribes. As in the story of Romeo and Juliet, their families and all their friends were against their love. But the beloved found a way to escape their time and culture. He became a hummingbird, and she became a red flower. The Taino Indians called hummingbirds sacred pollinators and believed that their task was to bring abundance into new life.
The people of the Chayama people of Trinidad believe that the spirits of their deceased ancestors are embodied in hummingbirds. Therefore, harming hummingbirds is taboo. The Arrawaki, an extinct tribe of the Caribbean, believed that the hummingbird was the first to bring tobacco to the land. They called him the bird – the doctor.
Navajo legend tells that one day a hummingbird was sent to see what is high in the sky. It turned out that there was absolutely nothing there.
In one of the Cherokee legends, the witch doctor turned into a hummingbird in order to return the lost tobacco plants. In another legend, a woman was looked after by a hummingbird and a crane. She wanted to choose a hummingbird for its beauty, but the crane convinced her that it was necessary to arrange a race around the world and that the winner would get her hand. The woman agreed, being sure that the hummingbird would win – after all, he flies so fast. She forgot that the crane can fly during the day and at night, while the hummingbird can only fly during the day. As a result, the crane won, but the woman did not keep her promise, because he was so ugly … The Creek Indians have a similar story, in their version the crane won because it flew straight, and the hummingbird zigzags.
The legends of Hopi and Zuni tell that the hummingbird, on behalf of people, turns to the gods and asks them to send rain to the earth. For this reason, the Indians of these tribes often depicted hummingbirds on their dishes. The Hopi painted hummingbirds dressed in green moccasins and a mask. He had a blue body with a yellow crown. The head is crowned with a comb of Douglas fir needles.
One of the Hopi legends tells of a time of great famine. The little boy and girl were left alone while their parents were looking for food. The boy made a toy hummingbird, and when his sister threw the toy into the air, it came to life. The hummingbird began to bring children on the cob of corn every day. In the end, the hummingbird flew to the center of the Earth to the god of fertility to ask for the revival of the earth. Soon, thanks to the efforts of a small bird, the rains began, young green plants rose, and the parents of the children returned home.
In the Pym legend, the hummingbird played the same role as the dove of Noah – he brought a flower as proof that the flood had subsided.
One of the legends that came from Mexico tells of a woman of the Tarascan tribe, who a hummingbird, in gratitude for the fact that she gave him sugar water during a drought, taught her to weave beautiful baskets. These baskets are currently used during the Day of the Dead Festival.
The Apache legend tells of the Dancing Wind, a young warrior who was born deaf, but due to this deficiency, he could sing wordless magical songs that healed people and called for good weather. Wind Dancing married Bright Rain, a beautiful young woman he saved when she was attacked by a wolf. One day, Wind Dancing was killed. As a result of his death, a fierce and cold winter began, which ended abruptly when Bright Rain began to take lonely walks. The tribal elders learned that Wind Dancing returned to her in hummingbird form. He wore the same ceremonial attire and war paint as before. In the spring fields, flowers bowed to Bright Rain and whispered magical secrets in her ear. This gave her peace and joy.
The Pueblo Indians have a hummingbird dance, and in their rituals, they use the feathers of small birds to invoke rain. Pueblo shamans use hummingbirds as messengers carrying gifts to the Great Mother who lives underground. For many Pueblos, hummingbirds are inextricably linked to tobacco. In one myth, the hummingbird receives the secret of smoking from the caterpillar of the keeper of the tobacco plant. Hummingbird brings incense to shamans so that they can cleanse the land. Some Pueblo Indians have a ritual for being born dead in the early days of babies. During the ceremony, which should hasten their rebirth, participants should hold prayer sticks with hummingbird feathers on the winter solstice until sunrise. One Pueblo story tells of a demon who was blinded after losing a dispute with the sun. In anger, he spewed out streams of fiery lava, and the Earth burst into flames. All people and animals were saved by the hummingbird, which gathered clouds from all four directions, and extinguished the flame from them with rain. Legend says that the vibrant colors on the hummingbird’s throat appeared after it flew through a rainbow while searching for rain clouds.
In Central America, the Aztecs adorned their ceremonial robes with hummingbird feathers. Chiefs wore hummingbird-shaped earrings, and Aztec priests decorated their staffs with hummingbird feathers – they used them to suck evil out of people cursed by sorcerers. One Aztec myth tells of a valiant warrior named Huizil who led the people to their new homeland and then helped defend it.
The full name of this famous hero was Huitzilopochtli, which means “hummingbird on the left.” “Left” is the far south, the place where the spirit of the world is. The woman who gave birth to Huitzilopochtli was called Coatlicue. She conceived him from a ball of feathers that fell from the sky. Huitzilopochtli wore a helmet shaped like a giant hummingbird. Huitzilopochtli was killed at a key moment in an important battle. His body disappeared, and from the ground where he fell, green hummingbirds soared into the air, inspiring his companions to victory. After his death, Huitzilopochtli became a god.
The Aztecs believed that every warrior killed in battle rises into the sky and for four years revolves around the sun, where he then turns into a hummingbird. In the afterlife, the heroes ate the nectar from the flowers growing in paradise, occasionally arranging training fights with each other to continue to hone their skills. At night, hummingbirds again became warriors and again followed Huizzil, fighting against the forces of darkness for the victory of light and warmth. At dawn, all hummingbirds fell into madness. The sun has endowed them with its shining brilliance for this.
During the performance of the ritual dances, the Aztec dancers formed a circle and sang a song with the following words: “I am the Shining One, bird, warrior and wizard.” At the end of the ritual, young men lifted the girls up, helping them fly like a hummingbird.
Hummingbird Totem
The hummingbird, perhaps the smallest bird, is also the most amazing feathered creature. Seeing her, it is impossible not to be filled with surprise and joy. When it flies or hovers in the air, its wings move at such a speed that it creates a buzzing sound. We all know how good it is to whistle while we work, but humming with your mouth closed (making sounds like the vibration of hummingbird wings) is even more effective. This promotes an internal facial massage and restores a sense of balance. The hummingbird reminds us to find joy in everything we do and hum about it.
There are about three hundred species of hummingbirds. This number is highly symbolic. In the Hebrew alphabet, the letter “shin” is given the numerical value of the number “three hundred.” It is associated with fire and relationships, with the past and the future. This is reflected even in the movement of the hummingbird’s wings. She has the ability to write out the number “eight” with her wings – a symbol of infinity and connection with the past and future, as well as a symbol of cause-and-effect relationships.
Hummingbirds have a long beak and tongue, which allows them to extract nectar from flowers. These birds cannot live without flowers, and many flowers cannot exist without hummingbird pollination, and this again reveals the mystery of cause and effect that hummingbirds lead us to so that you can extract your nectar.
Hummingbirds know how to use flowers for healing. In doing so, their aroma, color, and herbal properties are used. Hummingbirds can teach you how to extract life essence from them and create your own elixirs. They can teach you how to use flowers to heal and win hearts in love.
Hummingbirds are the best birds in flight. They can hang in the air. They can fly backward, forward, and sideways. Hummingbirds cannot actually walk; they only travel through the air. This reminds us that if we get real pleasure from what we are doing, then we will become light as a feather, and we will be able to continuously taste the sweetness of being. Hummingbirds can reach high speed during takeoff and stop instantly in flight at any speed. They are not afraid of any predators. It is known that hummingbirds can drive away even eagles.
No other bird is capable of flying backward. It epitomizes the hummingbird’s ability to explore the past and extract the nectar of joy from it. Hummingbirds can help you find positives in any situation. The speed of her movements always reminds us of the need to take joy wherever possible – and as quickly as possible.
Due to their iridescent plumage, hummingbirds are associated with the fairy world. The iridescent color of the plumage also indicates a connection with rain. More precisely, hummingbirds are often compared to a rainbow that appears after rain and gives people hope. Among the Pueblo Indians, hummingbirds were associated with the rituals of calling the rain.
Hummingbirds have a good appetite. Most of their diet is flower nectar (sweet juice), although they can also feed on small insects. Hummingbirds can eat fifty to sixty times a day. Due to their small size and a high degree of activity, their body quickly loses heat, so food must be digested very quickly. Hummingbirds have to control their blood sugar levels. Are you eating too much or too little? Are you having sugar problems because you don’t know how to enjoy the sweet taste of life?
Hummingbirds are extremely playful. Even while swimming – and they often bathe – they play in the water. Sometimes they seem to be fighting each other, although neither of them takes damage. Now scientists are convinced that such fights are held for training and for fun.
Hummingbirds are very independent. Except for the mating season, they love to fly alone, enjoying their freedom. During the mating ritual, the male does everything to attract the attention of the female and impress her. If the female wants to enter into a marriage union, then she responds to the efforts of the male, otherwise, she simply flies away.
As a mother, hummingbirds are very diligent. They have to work hard as they do not receive help from the male. The female usually lays two eggs, which is also very symbolic. The number “two” is a reflection of the inner “I” and the feminine principle, which we need to awaken and manifest in order to find the joy of being.
Hummingbirds are considered skillful architects. They build their homes with great care and ingenuity. Some of them are very intricate, and each is unique in its own way. If a hummingbird has appeared in your life, then you may have a desire to update the interior. A hummingbird can indicate the need to change something to create a joyful atmosphere in the home.
Hummingbirds can actually hibernate at night. Their body temperature drops, feathers ruffle to create thermal insulation, and they go into a state of daze. It seems that the bird died on a branch. This is necessary in order to prevent the depletion of the energy sources they need to live. For people whose totem is hummingbirds, it is important to regularly provide themselves with conditions for sound sleep and rest. This is necessary in order not to burn out to ashes.
The red-throated hummingbird is a migratory bird. Each winter, these tiny creatures make a long journey. They eat continuously for several days, stocking up on nutrients and energy. Then they fly for a long, long time to reach places with warm climates. It is known that some hummingbirds fly four thousand kilometers or more, from Alaska to Central America. Scientists still cannot figure out how to store up enough energy to accomplish this.
But the hummingbird succeeds, and in this regard, the hummingbird can be considered a symbol of the implementation of what seems impossible. They will teach you how to find the miracle of a joyful existence in the most difficult situation in life.
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