new art hot off the presses

halcyon kingfisher  by Steve-o and Lotus by Matt

thanks Joel

The Maine health dept big brother popped in for our first inspection yesterday and now that we are legal I  can start thanking everyone for all their hard work and support. Starting with the women in our lives that make all the crap and logistics work out. All Steve and I did the last few months went even smoother with the help of the wifeys, and the electrician, the Westbrook police(ha!) and Home Depot. A big shout out to the Westbrook city Mayor, she rules.




More entries will follow. Stay tuned for pictures of the shop and all our new work, paintings, updates, travel schedules etc..

-m

Halcyon Tattoo Westbrook, Maine.

"Halcyon" is a name for a bird in Greek legend generally associated with the kingfisher. There was an ancient belief that the bird nested on the sea, which it calmed in order to lay its eggs on a floating nest. Two weeks of calm weather were therefore expected around the winter solstice. This myth leads to the use of halcyon as a term for peace or calmness. 

In Greek mythology, 

Alcyone (Ancient Greek: Ἁλκυόνη Halkyónē) was the daughter of Aeolus, either by Enarete or Aegiale. She married Ceyx, son of Eosphorus, the Morning Star.

They were very happy together in Trachis, and according to Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, often sacrilegiously called each other "Zeus" and "Hera". This angered Zeus, so while Ceyx was at sea (going to consult an oracle according to Ovid's account),  the god threw a thunderbolt at his ship. Ceyx appeared to Alcyone as an apparition to tell her of his fate, and she threw herself into the sea in her grief. Out of compassion, the gods changed them both into halcyon birds, named after her.

Ovid and Hyginus  both also recount the metamorphosis of the pair in and after Ceyx's loss in a terrible storm, though they both omit Ceyx and Alcyone calling each other Zeus and Hera (and Zeus's resulting anger) as a reason for it. Ovid also adds the detail of her seeing his body washed up onshore before her attempted suicide.

Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the etymology for "halcyon days". the seven days in winter when storms never occur. They state that these were originally the seven days each year (either side of the shortest day of the year) during which Alcyone (as a kingfisher) laid her eggs and made her nest on the beach and during which her father Aeolus, god of the winds, restrained the winds and calmed the waves so she could do so in safety. The phrase has since become a term used to describe a peaceful time generally.

The myth is also briefly referred to by Virgil, again without reference to Zeus's anger.