Seeing a swallow
In old Chinese lore, swallows arriving to nest in a new place were an omen of coming success. Barn swallows now nest almost exclusively on porches and barns, so a swallow close by asks you how near feels right.
What it may mean
Barn swallows in North America hardly ever nest in the wild anymore. They build under porches, bridges and barn roofs, on beams and light fixtures, as close to people as they can get. A pair carries hundreds of beakfuls of mud to make a single cup, and the same birds will swoop at your head if you walk too near it. Living beside a swallow is a small lesson in shared space: generous on one side, firm about one small boundary on the other. You might ask where in your life you share space well, and where you need to say "this close, but no closer."
Depending on how you saw it
Swallows swooping at you near a nest
If swallows dive close to your head by a barn or a porch, you are near their nest. They almost never touch anyone; the point is simply "not here." Ask yourself how clearly you mark your own limits, and whether a little more swoop would help.
Following a lawn mower
Swallows often trail a lawn mower or a tractor, snapping up the insects it stirs from the grass. Their dinner comes from someone else's work. What chances do other people's projects stir up around you, and which of them are yours to catch?
A mud nest above the porch light
A cup of dried mud above a porch light took a pair of swallows a week or more of trips, one beakful at a time, and it may be used again for years. What steady, small effort of yours is adding up without anyone counting?
Young swallows lined up to be fed
Fledgling swallows often sit in a row on a branch or a beam, beaks open, while the parents bring food in flight. In a few days they will catch their own. Who around you can nearly manage alone and could use a little less help?
Why it happens in nature
Barn swallows spend the winter in Central and South America and return to North America in spring, often to the very barn or porch they left. Both parents build the mud nest and feed the young, sometimes helped by older offspring. They eat only flying insects, which is why they skim so low over fields, water and lawns.
What folk beliefs say
China
In China, swallows arriving and building their nests in a new place were taken as an omen of coming success.
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. 706. View the page
England
The antiquary Grose, quoted by Brand, wrote that it was held extremely unlucky to kill a swallow, a martin, a robin, a wren, a cricket or a ladybug, perhaps because all of them take refuge in people's houses and harming them broke the rules of hospitality.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 193. View the page
Germany (Neumark)
In the Neumark region of Germany, washing your face at the sight of the first swallow of spring was said to keep you from sunburn for the rest of the year.
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. 707. View the page
To reflect on
Where in your life would "this close, but no closer" be a kind thing to say?