Enjoy your Halcyon Days

We're currently in the Halcyon Days of the year - a fortnight in December around the time of the Winter Solstice when things traditionally became less busy. The harvest was done, food for the winter had been stockpiled. and the animals slaughtered and their meat salted and cured. People could relax for a short while and enjoy their families and good company and generally just chill out.

But not any more. 

Sadly, as we discussed a little while ago (see here) replacing Yule with Christmas has created stress and hassle at the one time of year when working men and women should be winding down and finding time to relax.

But why are these weeks known as 'Halcyon Days'? Surprisingly, it's all to do with kingfishers.

Photo: Shantanu Kuveskar (Creative Commons)

The word 'halcyon' comes from Alcyone who, in Greek myth, was the daughter of Aeolus (god of the winds) and wife of Ceyx, King of Trachis. The two were deeply, inseparably in love and everybody knew it. But, one day, Ceyx upset Zeus in a very minor way, but it was enough to send the volatile king of the gods into a rage. He therefore, in a fit of pique, wrecked the king's ship and drowned him. Alcyone was so consumed with grief that she threw herself into the sea and drowned also. At this point, Zeus realised that his actions had been somewhat over the top and he now faced the ire of all the gods and people who loved the couple. So he attempted to make amends by transforming the pair into kingfishers (known as halcyons in Greece). When Alcyone made her nest - the ancient Greeks believed that kingfishers nested at sea - waves threatened to destroy it. So Aeolus restrained his winds and kept the seas calm during seven days in each year, so she could brood her offspring. 

And so the myth persisted and, over time, the term 'halcyon days' came to mean a time of peace or tranquillity. 

However, the over-commercialisation of Christmas has changed all that. Now, as we dash about buying presents, and stocking up with food and booze, and getting the house decorated, and running up our credit card bills, we think of our halcyon days as those idyllic, calm and peaceful days we once enjoyed. 

Change is inevitable but, let's be honest, some things were better left alone.