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Halcyon
Mon Dec 22, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
December 14th marks the beginning of December's Halcyon Days. Okay, so what exactly are
Halcyon Days? Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook.
Halcyon means joyful, carefree; or for weather: fair and stormless. The Halcyon Days encompass
fourteen days centered on the Winter Solstice when Aeolus, keeper of the winds, commands sea
and wind to be calm. In the Mediterranean, birthplace of the halcyon days, the Winter Solstice
is typically calm.
The Halcyon Days are linked with the European kingfishers, brilliantly-plumaged birds that
breed during late-December in nests tunnelled into waterside banks. The ancient Greeks,
however, believed kingfishers built floating nests, and wherever these drifted, the seas and
winds calmed.
The bird's classic name, halcyon, derives from Alcyone, Aeolus' daughter. She married Ceyx,
King of Thessaly, and they were extremely happy.
Unfortunately, Ceyx died in stormy seas, and, grief-stricken Alcyone threw herself into the
ocean. But before hitting the water, she transforms into a bird, enfolding Ceyx's lifeless
body with her wings. Feeling her deep grief, the gods changed the couple into
kingfishers.
Ever since, the legend goes, Alcyone carries her dead mate to his burial, then builds a nest
and launches it out to sea. There, she lays her eggs and hatches her chicks, brooding over her
sea-borne nest for seven placid days before the Winter Solstice and seven calm days after.
While she broods, Aeolus himself reigns in the wind and sea, protecting his daughter and his
grandchildren.
These fourteen days are also known as "the time when wind is forgotten," the sacred
breeding-season of the kingfisher, and mariners credit the halcyonthe kingfisherwith powers to
calm the storm and raging seas.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. Our show is funded by Subaru
of America, and The National Science Foundation.
Today's Links
More:
http://www.rogerleeart.demon.co.uk/images/kfishers.html
More:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1553/e-info_e.html
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