‘Alkyonides’ days

I have already highlighted the beauty and the specialty of winter on a Greek island in this post. But I haven’t mentioned so far this lovely period called Alkyonides meres / Αλκυονίδες μέρες in Greek – in English ‘Kingfisher days’ – which is another reason to visit Greece off season.

Greek winter could be pretty chilly and windy, but nearly every year during the Alkyonides meres, which is a meteorological phenomenon of the central Greek climate, there is a lovely period of windless days with clear blue sky and mild temperatures which can reach up to 20°C, or even more! Alkyonides meres could take place from 15th December to 15th February each, but most often between January 16-31.

Living on Rhodes (on the sunniest island of Greece) it is never a surprise if we have a strong sunshine, but usually during these days the temperature rises here too. It happened in the previous weeks that we had to turn off the heating, we did not have to make fire in the fireplace. More people were swimming in the sea than usually. We always have the winter swimmers who go everyday to swim in the Aegean, but these days allowed others to dip in the water too.

But why does this phenomenon happen?

Greeks have a beautiful myth to explain it. Okay, they have more myths, different versions, but let’s see the most common one:

Ceyx and Alcyone

Once upon a time Ceyx, the king of Thessaly had fallen in love with the beautiful Alcyone (daughter of Aeolus, god of the winds). Their love was so passionate, legendary all over the ancient land. While they were madly in love, they called each other: “My God” and “My Goddess”. They considered their love as a sacred love. Of course Zeus had heard about this also, and he didn’t like the fact that they were calling each other “God” and “Goddess”. He became very angry, because he considered it as a disrespect and he wanted to punish the couple.

One day Ceyx was sailing to Delphi. Zeus took the chance and created a very heavy storm on the sea, so the ship of Ceyx sank and Ceyx got drowned. His last thought was his beloved Alcyone and with his last breath he prayed for Poseidon (the God of the sea) to take his body back to his lover. That night Alcyone saw his lover in her dream in the big storm sinking in the sea. She was terrified and when she woke up in the morning she was running to the rocks by the sea, where she was searching for her lover. Ceyx’s body was approaching the shores and when Alcyone saw him, she threw herself into the Aegean sea too. At that moment the gods of the Olympus were so disappointed about the tragic death of the couple, so Zeus changed his mind and decided to transform the couple into Halcyon birds. And this bird lays her eggs each year in January on the beach and nests near to the sea. But Alcyone was not able to make nests because of the huge waves and wind of the winter. Zeus finally decided to change the weather for a few weeks for the couple in order to be able to make nests even during winter. He stopped the wind, so there were no waves, but mild weather and sunny days. And that’s why we call them Alkyonides days, when these birds are laying their eggs.

Halcyon bird – the Kingfisher

For the ones who are not so romantic, here is the meteorological explanation of Alkyonides meres: “the Alkyonides Days are created as a result of the latitude of Greece during these days of the winter, heightened barometric pressure, combined with no wind, cool temperatures, and intense sunshine.” – xpatathens.com