Halcyon Days on Crete
Just expereinced these “halcyon days” while traveling on the west coast, down from Chania (Χανιά) to Paliochora (Παλιόχωρα).
From Wiktionary:
“Halcyon” is derived from Ancient Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alkuónē), daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. When her husband died in a shipwreck, Alcyone threw herself into the sea whereupon the gods transformed them both into halcyon birds (kingfishers). When Alcyone made her nest on the beach, waves threatened to destroy it. Aeolus restrained his winds and kept them calm during seven days in each year, so she could lay her eggs.
These became known as the “halcyon days,” when storms do not occur.
No storms indeed, and temperatures up to 24°C, how nice is this as a January experience! The most beautiful beaches we found all the way down in Elafonisi (Ελαφονήσι) on the south west corner of Crete. For good reasons, it is also called the Caribbean beach.
“No storms” is also what our inner conditions were in those days. Thomas S. Elliot writes on halycon days:
And the ragged rock in the restless waters, / Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it; / On a halcyon day it is merely a monument, / In navigable weather is always a seamark / to lay a course by: but in the sombre season / Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.
Indeed, this reflects very well how we enjoyed these days. Sensing the details, just taking care of the what is needed to bare being. What a grace!
