Seeing a bear
Seeing a bear recalls an old mistake: people once believed cubs were born shapeless and licked into form by their mothers. The truth was hidden in the winter den, and the error still warns against judging beginnings you never saw.
What it may mean
For centuries educated Europeans repeated that bear cubs were born as formless lumps and that the mother licked them into the shape of a bear. Brand listed it among the vulgar errors and quoted a writer who pointed out that eyewitnesses had shown otherwise. The mistake is easy to understand. Cubs are born in midwinter, deep in a den, tiny, blind and nearly hairless, a fraction of a percent of their mother's weight. Nobody saw them until spring, when they came out looking like small bears. People filled the unseen months with a story. We still do this whenever we judge someone's start without seeing the conditions they began in: the new coworker who seems slow, the neighbor's child who seems rude, the friend whose career looks effortless.
Depending on how you saw it
A black bear in the backyard
Most backyard bears come for food: bird feeders, garbage, grills and pet food. Wildlife agencies advise taking those in so the bear moves on before it learns your yard. Which easy reward have you left out for a habit you would rather not encourage?
Meeting one on a trail
Norwegian lore counted meeting a bear as a fortunate sign. Today's advice for a surprise meeting is to stay calm, speak in a firm voice, look big and back away slowly without running. When something powerful surprises you, is your first move panic or a steady voice?
A mother with cubs
Spring cubs stay close to their mother, and she will defend them fiercely, so the safest place is far away. Cubs up a tree are often waiting for her signal. Whom do you wait for before you come down from your own tree?
Meeting one early in the day
In Hindu tradition as recorded in 1903, even mentioning a bear or meeting one in the morning was an unlucky omen for the day. First impressions of a morning can color all the hours after. What first sight or sound tends to set the tone of your day?
Why it happens in nature
Bear cubs are born in the winter den, blind and nearly hairless, weighing about a pound or less, and they nurse for weeks before anyone sees them, which helped the old myth that they were born shapeless. Most black bears avoid people; trouble starts with food left out, and mothers with cubs need the widest berth.
What folk beliefs say
England
Brand lists among old vulgar errors the belief that bear cubs are born without form, a lump of flesh that the mother shapes by licking, and quotes a writer who says eyewitnesses had proved otherwise.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 364. View the page
Norway
In Norway, a 1903 collection says, meeting a bear is a fortunate sign.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 575. View the page
Ostiaks (Khanty), Siberia
The Ostiaks of Siberia believed the bear enjoys immortality, the same page says, and when they killed one they sang over it and asked its pardon, so that it would not take revenge in the spirit land.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 575. View the page
India (Hindu tradition)
Among Hindus, to mention a bear or meet one in the morning was counted among the unlucky omens for the day.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 3 (1903), vol. 3, p. 1357. View the page
To reflect on
Whose beginning have you judged without seeing the conditions they started in?