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 ...

Tagged: calendar-customs, ancient-rome, folklore