The cock, or rooster, is a creature associated with life and life cycles, death, and
divination. The bird's habit of crowing at sunrise, as well as the crimson comb atop its
head, mark the cock as a "sun-bird", or harbinger of dawn and light. Various religions throughout
history have assigned special significance to the cock's crowing; it was said to have been the
first animal to proclaim the birth of Christ. Both some Christians and the Norsemen held
a belief that the end of the world would be heralded by the crowing of a mighty rooster.
If a cock crows at some time other than dawn, many cultures interpret it as a death omen; this
has in some cases resulted in the senseless killing of a poor animal, in order to ward off the
death promised to the person under whose window the rooster has decided to vocalize.
Cocks have been called upon for divination involving weather predictions, impending arrival
of visitors, and detection of thieves. It is said in some parts of England that if a cock sits
on a fence or gate to crow, rain is likely the next day. If the cock tries to enter a house
through the front door, strangers are likely to visit. The thief-detection ritual calls for the
cock to be placed under something; perhaps a blanket or cooking-pot; all suspects will then each
in turn touch the object covering the cock -- he will crow when his covering is touched by the
guilty party.
The color of the cock was often a factor in the superstitions surrounding the creature. White
cocks were considered lucky, and any farm blessed with a white cock was said to be fortunate. White
cocks were thus protected; to kill one was to invite horrible luck. Black cocks, on the other hand,
were often employed in charms and rituals that required the bird's life to be sacrificed. In Scotland
and Cornwall, a traditional cure for epilepsy was to kill and bury the cock at the exact spot where
an afflicted person had had a seizure. A more complicated ritual required the epileptic's fingernail
cuttings, a sixpence, and a paper on which the names of the Trinity were written to be tied under the
wing of a black cock. The encumbered cock was then buried alive. It was important that the black cock
be fully black, with no white feathers, in order for the charms to work.
The treatment of the cock throughout history is characteristic of the omens and rituals associated
with animals with some specialized talent, habit, or physical feature. In mankind's desperation to
influence forces over which we had little control, we mentally and emotionally bound Earth's animals
to a role of magic tokens, for good or ill.
Reference: The Encyclopedia of Superstitions,
by E. & M.A. Radford, Dufour Editions, Inc. 1948