2. This is some of
what is said about the Halcyon in The
White Goddess:
"As soon as one has mastered
the elementary grammar and accidence of
myth, and built up a small vocabulary, and
learned to distinguish seasonal myths from
historical and iconotropic myths, one is
surprised how close to the surface lie the
explanations, lost since pre-Homeric times,
of legends that are still religiously
conserved as part of our European cultural
inheritance.
For example, the various
legends of the halcyon, or kingfisher which
like the wren, is associated in Greek myth
with the winter solstice. There were
fourteen 'halcyon days' in every year, seven
of which fell before the winter solstice,
seven after, peaceful days when the sea was
smooth as a pond and the hen-halcyon built a
floating nest and hatched out her young.
According to Plutarch and Aelian, she had
another habit, of carrying her dead mate on
her back over the sea and mourning him with
a peculiarly plaintive cry.
The number fourteen is a
moon-number, the days of the lucky first
half of the month; so the legend (which has
no foundation in natural history, because
the halcyon does not build a nest at all but
lays its eggs in holes by the waterside)
evidently refers to the birth of the new
sacred king, at the winter solstice - after
his mother, the Moon-goddess, has conveyed
the old king's corpse to a sepulchral
island.
Naturally, the winter
solstice does not always coincide with the
same phase of the moon, so 'every year' must
be understood as 'every Great Year', at the
close of which solar and lunar time were
roughly syncronized and the sacred king's
term ended."
It fits well with Gb3-28--29, where the
winter solstice ought to be - according to an
observer north of the equator if he has the
heliacal rising of Alcyone 146 days
later:
|
solstice |
319.1 |
314.5 |
|
Menkar |
α Ceti |
2.54 |
03º 54' N |
03h 00m |
45.7 |
453.7 |
453 |
|
Alcyone |
η Tauri |
2.85 |
23º 57' N |
03h 45m |
57.1 |
465.1 |
464¼ |
