The Comfort of Myths

'Alcyone...found herself flying, beating the air with wings newly-formed. Changed into a sorrowing bird, she skimmed the surface of the waves. As she flew, a plaintive sound, like the lament of someone stricken with grief, came harshly from the slender beak that was her mouth.'

(Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XI Ceyx & Alcyone Transformed, 1955 Penguin

Alcyone and Ceyx were Greek mythological figures transformed into Kingfishers. The myth has it that because the pair disrespected the gods by calling themselves respectively Zeus and Hera, Zeus sent a thunderbolt to the ship carrying Cecyx. Then Morpheus (god of dreams) appeared before Alcyone and told her of Cecyx's fate. She threw herself into the sea in grief. But the gods took pity on the pair and transformed them into Kingfishers.

Alcyone was the daughter of Aeolus, god of the wind. He is said to have restrained the winds at this time and calmed the waves so that his daughter could lay her eggs in safety on the beach. These
'Halcyon Days' are seven days either side of 21st December when storms never occur.

In Greece today there is still a kind of reverence paid to this period and people look forward to the 'Alkionades' period of calm and peace in the midst of adversity.