Fog symbolic meaning

Dense and obscure, fog hampers our ability to see clearly.

It dulls the senses and inhibits perception. Fog typifies isolation, confusion and a distortion of truth and reality. According to old legends, it was believed that it was a curse from the devil since whenever fog was eminent, human beings would vanish from sight and as a result would not be seen or be able to see other people.

In a play called Long Days written by Eugene O’Neill, the production used fog in the illusions and the symbolism therein to clearly show confusion. Eugene further uses it to refer to the ominous aspect that is linked to its presence. In some instances, fog is used as an allusion to one's lover. This is because of its white and clear appearance; On the other hand, it is used in reference to one hiding from the reality. This was used in most occasions. It is called a white curtain.

In his further writings, he further portrays fog as a symbol of diluting clarity and as a result it was used to mean one’s mind being numbed especially during the times of difficulty. In some of the traditional societies, if it happened that fog was so heavy to the point of causing death to birds and drying of some of the crops, then it was believed to be a gesture of displeasure by the gods. As a result, people had to seek spiritual intervention whereby animal blood would be shade to facilitate forgiveness and cleansing. During the medieval times, a foggy day was treated with a lot of reverence and most people believed it was a way the gods wanted to communicate with them. As a result, most people gathered at he sacred places such as shrines to assemble and submit their supplications to their gods.

However, in some instances, it was believed that if fog appeared and persisted for a long period during that day, then something good was on the way. The gray color or nature of fog is what was mainly used as a reference in bringing out some of the superstitious beliefs about fog. Moreover in some parts of East Africa, especially Kenya, there was a belief among some of its native inhabitants that persistence of fog for more than a half a day was very symbolic. It was believed that in such instances something terrible would happen and specifically death of a prominent person or a disaster that would shake a whole community. Nevertheless, in some societies and beliefs such fog was an incident of determining whom one would marry since it was believed that if a man met a girl on the way on such a day then that was deemed to be the perfect match.