Green eyes have always been a well-known superstition, usually referred to as a sign of jealousy. In Othello , for example, Shakespeare focuses on Othello's green eyes as the sign of his jealousy and anger. Birds are another important superstition in Haun's story. Being aerial, birds are in direct contact with the sky and with the spirits. Birds give rise to a most important form of divination.
Snakes are one more superstition in the story.
Snakes are one of the most fundamental archetypes found throughout all civilizations. Snakes are said to symbolize both knowledge and absolute evil, and it is always a bad omen to encounter one. Granny sees the snakeskin as bad luck because she does not want Cordia to bear any children for fear that their secret will come out. Superstition undoubtedly functioned in the mind of primitive man in much the same way it does in modern man's. Most familiar superstitions have multiple origins, for each culture has added its own meaning to inherited practices.