SOME time ago, I was visiting an elderly friend about this time of year. As we chatted over a cup of tea, the postman arrived with a handful of Christmas cards and she insisted on opening them in my presence. Then with a shriek of horror, she threw one of them into the fire.

I was to discover it depicted a handsome red-breasted robin and she was of a generation that believed that if a robin entered your house at any time of year except November, it heralded a death in the household. She had always believed that old superstition, but her belief also applied to illustrations of robins whether photographs, paintings or other images.

I did not dare ask her why she believed in that old superstition because, surprisingly, it did not apply to the month of November, although it did so if a robin tapped on a house window. There was a corresponding belief that death of a member of a church congregation would occur if a robin flew into a church and sang there.

This very ancient superstition seems to be associated with a legend that as Christ was dying on Good Friday, a robin attempted to withdraw the thorns of the Crown of Thorns but failed to save His life. A similar tale said that as Christ lay dead after the Crucifixion, a robin appeared.

It covered his naked body with leaves when it was said that the bird’s own body was stained with the blood of Christ, since commemorated in that famous red breast.

For centuries afterwards it was said that any robin, upon finding the corpse of a dead person, would cover the remains with leaves or moss. Indeed, that old belief entered our folklore when a robin is said to have covered the dead bodies of the Babes in the Wood with leaves.

In some areas, it was said a robin would sing mournfully beside the deceased until the burial was complete. In direct contrast to these old beliefs, it was popularly considered unlucky to kill or harm a robin, or to steal or destroy its eggs and damage its nest.

There was a strong belief that anyone who harmed a robin or its nest would suffer as a consequence, and if the raider broke a leg or wing of the robin, then he or she would suffer a broken arm or leg.

It is claimed that the robin is the most popular bird in this country and this might be partially due to it being so tame. Gardeners will tell stories of robins following their handiwork with a spade and helping themselves to grubs and worms that are revealed.

In towns too, robins will visit open-air dining areas to pick fallen titbits from the ground and they have been known to take delicacies from the hands of diners.

Another appealing practice of robins is to nest in peculiar places. They will cheerful occupy an old cast-off kettle or saucepan to bring up their new family and have been known to nest in disused old cars.

Sheds, garden shelters and various building that are open to the elements may find themselves hosting a family of robins but many gardens with dense vegetation, such as a covering of ivy on the walls or some dense un-pruned undergrowth will provide cover for nesting robins.

Reverting to my references to robins on Christmas cards, this seems to be a comparatively modern superstition.

Christmas cards as we know them did not make their appearance until Victorian times when a man called Henry Cole asked his friend, John Calcott Horsley to design a card for sending to friends and family at Christmas. He did so, and the first was sent in 1843. It seems the idea was based on an older custom whereby cards were sent to friends and family to mark the New Year.

It took a while for the idea of a Christmas card to appeal to a wider public but by the 1860s, the notion of buying and sending cheap cards at Christmas began to spread around the country.

Those very early cards did not embrace the religious symbolism of Christmas but were far more concerned with family entertainments like dancing and eating, although winter scenes with holly and snow were featured.

My notes do not tell me when the robin first appeared on Christmas cards but it does seem the belief that a card bearing a robin will bring death to the house has no basis in ancient folklore. As for the robins, they are one of the few birds that sing during the winter months and that should make the robin’s image suitable for our Christmas cards.