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Halcyon Arts brings
​the world of music and spirituality ​
to ​New England by presenting
programs ​that enrich and transform. ​

Photo by Robert Bowler taken from Dun I, the highest point on the Isle of Iona, Scotland.

Featured  Programs

  • Áine Minogue, Celtic Harp & Vocals
    Áine Minogue, Celtic Harp & Vocals
    Friends Discount
    Sat, Apr 27
    All Saints' Episcopal Church
    Apr 27, 2024, 7:30 PM EDT
    All Saints' Episcopal Church , 7 Woodbridge St, South Hadley, MA 01075, USA
    Apr 27, 2024, 7:30 PM EDT
    All Saints' Episcopal Church , 7 Woodbridge St, South Hadley, MA 01075, USA
    Áine Minogue is close enough to her Celtic sources to be nourished by them, but not so close they root her to the spot. -Billboard Magazine
  • Spiritual Journeys
    Spiritual Journeys
    Friends Discount
    Sun, Apr 28
    Five monthly sessions online via Zoom
    Apr 28, 2024, 7:00 PM
    Five monthly sessions online via Zoom
    Apr 28, 2024, 7:00 PM
    Five monthly sessions online via Zoom
    Stories of wonder and transformation.
  • Early Christian Mystics I
    Early Christian Mystics I
    Friends Discount
    Mon, May 06
    Six bi-monthly sessions online via Zoom.
    May 06, 2024, 7:00 PM
    Six bi-monthly sessions online via Zoom.
    May 06, 2024, 7:00 PM
    Six bi-monthly sessions online via Zoom.
    Practices for Finding God
kingfisher photo by llee_wu.jpg
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Our logo depicts the kingfisher

Watercolor
by Sarah Stribbling

The word "halcyon" is from a Greek myth about the Kingfisher.

According to Greek mythology, Alcyone, the daughter of the god of the winds, became so distraught when she learned that her husband had been killed in a shipwreck that she threw herself into the sea and was changed into a kingfisher. As a result, ancient Greeks called such birds alcyōn or halcyōn. The legend also says that such birds built floating nests on the sea, where they so charmed the wind god that he created a period of unusual calm that lasted until the birds' eggs hatched. This legend prompted people to use halcyon both as a noun naming a genus of kingfisher and as an adjective meaning either "of or relating to the kingfisher or its nesting period" or "calm."      --from Miriam Webster

Thus, the phrase "halcyon days" owes its origin to this beautiful myth of Alcyone, when, for two weeks around the winter solstice each year, Aeolus, Alcyone's father, calms the winds and the waves so that Alcyone, in the form of a kingfisher, can safely make her nest, lay her eggs, and care for them until they hatched and fledged. Hence, the term "halcyon days" comes to signify a period of great peace and calm. 

Background Image: photo by llee_wu

Halcyon Arts New England
is grateful to all our sponsors and partners, including:

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