omen-giving

Updated: June 24, 2025

Taboos of certain foods were observed abundantly in the ancient world: by Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, and by Celts. Among the various omen-giving animals some may have been totems. Solemn annual sacrifices, followed by mourning for the victims, were performed in Egypt, and the slaying of the sacrificial animal was treated as murder in various Greek cities.

Crawford Howell Toy - Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV

In cases where there is more definite aid there is always the question whether the aid is afforded by the totem in its specific character of clan-brother or merely in its character of nonhuman powerful thing. Omens, for example, are given by all natural objects; when an object of this sort happens to be a totem, it is not clear that its capacity of omen-giving belongs to it simply as totem.

Crawford Howell Toy - Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV