Halcyon

Today, I’d like to welcome Olso in our audience! Oslo has a fantastic first! It was the first city to design a bee highway. A series of rooftops, green spaces and balconies were bees can follow throughout the city and pollinate! Thank you for that and for listening Oslo!

(Piano music) Hello, and welcome to Your Greek Word On A Sunday, a weekly, bite-size podcast for anyone curious on language, etymology and connections. I am your host, Emmanuela Lia and wherever you are in the world, if you want to entertain your brain for a few minutes, this is the podcast for you. Let's Go!

Here’s a myth that has taken many forms like its protagonists. I’m going to tell you the story of Αλκυόνη and Κυηξ and the rise and fall of their love. Αλκυόνη was a beautiful young Princess , daughter of Aeolus of Thessaly (not to be confused with the winds god). Κυηξ was a handsome young noble man . They fell in love and got married and their love was so passionate and strong that made them feel invincible and unique . Like love does. But the couple took it a little too far. They started believing they were as powerful as Zeus and Hera and even called each other with those names. And that was hubris to the Olympians. They transformed them into birds and cursed them to live by the sea and only be able to lay eggs in the middle of winter. Many years passed and harsh winters kept destroying their eggs. Zeus felt pity for them and gave them 14 sunny and warm days from the middle of January to the middle of February for their eggs to survive. In the rest of the world Αλκυόνη ‘ς name is now a metaphor for calm, happy and prosperous times but in Greece that is the name for the 14 Spring-like days in the middle of winter. ΑΛΚΥΟΝΗ/HALCYON

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