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 Aegiale. She is sometimes regarded as one of the Pleiades. More often she was thought of as the daughter of Aeolus. She married Ceyx, son of Eosphorus (Morningstar) 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 ...

Tagged: folklore, customs, ancient+rome