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HALCYON Pronunciation:
'halseeun Matching
Terms: Halcyonian,
Halcyonold \Hal"cy*on\, n. [L. halcyon, alcyon, Gr.?: F. halcyon.] A kingfisher.
By modern ornithologists
restricted
to a genus including a
limited
number of species having omnivorous habits, as the sacred kingfisher
({Halcyon
sancta})
of
Amidst
our arms as quiet you shall be As halcyons
brooding
on a winter sea.
--Dryden. 1. Pertaining
to, or resembling,
the halcyon, which was anciently
said to lay her eggs in nests on or near the sea during the calm weather about the winter solstice. 2. Hence: Calm; quiet; peaceful;
undisturbed;
happy.
``Deep, halcyon repose.''
--De Quincy.
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Halcyons are especially remarkable for this- the seas and
those who sail them know the days when they breed. The bird itself
is a little larger than a sparrow, sea-blue in color and reddish on
the underside, with white feathers in the neck, and a long slender
beak... They breed at midwinter, on what are called "Halcyon days",
during which the sea is calm and navigable, especially near Sicily.
They make their nests a week before the shortest day, and lay a week
after it.
Pliny the
Elder
... the great and burning star,
Immeasurably old, immeasurably far,
Surging forth its silver flame
Through eternity, ... Alcyone!
Archibald Lampman, Alcyone
Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be,
As halcyons brooding on a winter's sea.
English
poet,
John Dryden,
(today the Halcyon Days begin)
The end is not yet, as verily it will coincide with the
vocalisations of an obese female.
Final prophecy of Nostradamus,
who was born on December 14, 1503
I die because I do not die.
St
John of the Cross, Spanish
saint, who died on December 14, 1591
It is well. I die hard, but I am not afraid
to go.
Last words of
George Washington,
who died on December 14, 1799
I have had wealth, rank and power; but if
these were all I had, how wretched I should be!
Last words of Prince
Albert (Queen
Victoria's consort), who died on December 14, 1861
All women
together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, which is,
most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it
was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. It is she--shady
and amorous as she was--who makes it not quite fantastic for me to say to
you tonight: Earn five hundred a year by your wits.
Virginia Woolf,
A Room of One's Own; English writer
Aphra Behn was baptized on December 14, 1640
The river I have under my tongue,
Unimaginable
water, my little boat,
And
curtains lowered, let's speak.
Paul Eluard, French poet, born on December 14, 1895; 'The River'
Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our
minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way
is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is
unpopular is a true test of moral character.
Margaret Chase Smith, American politician, born
on December 14, 1897
I like life. I have sometimes been
wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through
it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand
thing.
Agatha Christie,
who was found on December 14,
1926 after having been missing for eleven days; Towards Zero
If one sticks too rigidly to one's
principles one would hardly see anybody.
Agatha Christie;
ibid
I don't think
necessity is the mother of invention – invention, in my opinion, arises
directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself
trouble.
Agatha Christie;
An Autobiography, 1977
December 14 is the 348th day
of the year in the Gregorian calendar
(349th
in leap years), with 17 days remaining.
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Beginning of Halcyon
Days, ancient Rome
During the Halcyon
Days, the Mediterranean was supposed to stay calm. Halcyon is Greek for a
kingfisher ('sea-hound'). The ancient Sicilians believed that the
kingfisher incubated its eggs for fourteen days on the surface of the sea,
during which time, before the
Winter Solstice, the waves were still.
Alcyone was a Greek demi-goddess, the daughter of Aeolus, the guardian of the winds, and either Enarete or Aegiale. She is sometimes regarded as one of the Pleiades*. She married Ceyx, son of Eosphorus (the morning star) and the king of Thessaly.
They were very happy together, but then Ceyx perished in a shipwreck and Alcyone ('queen who wards off [storms]') threw herself into the sea. Out of compassion, the gods changed them into the halcyon birds. Since Alcyone made her nest on the beach, and waves threatened to destroy it, Aeolus restrained his winds and becalmed the waves during seven days in each year, so she could lay her eggs. These became known as the 'halcyon days', when storms never occur. The halcyon became a symbol of tranquillity.
By Anthedon, she became the mother of Glaucus, the sea god.
Ovid
XI, 410
Alternative:
Halcyone
Alcyone is also the name of a star in the constellation Pleiades; the early Arabs called it Al Jauz, the Walnut. In India, it was the junction star of the nakshatras, Krittika and Rohint, and individual Amba, the Mother. To the Babylonians it determined the 4th ecliptic constellation, Temennu, the Foundation Stone. Either today or on December 15, the Greeks held the Festival of Alcyone.
Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days More
*Subaru and the Pleiades
King