Leda
and the Swan, Art by Josephine
Wall
SWAN
©
by Anna Franklin
Used
with Permission, do not reprint
The
voice of the wind against the branchy wood, grey with
cloud;
cascades
the river, the swan's song, lovely music.
[Irish,
10th century]
KEYWORDS:
Sacredness,
eloquence, passage.
THE
SYMBOLISM:
The
swan was believed to be the king of water birds, and
the only other bird the eagle thought it worthwhile
to fight. Its sacredness is apparent in the taboo that
is laid on killing it from Ireland to Siberia. To do
so would result in great misfortune or even death.
In
Celtic myth, the swan was associated with the dawn,
the sun and water. It was the companion of gods and
goddesses that combine the twin healing powers of sun
and water, such as the goddess Brighid. They were often
depicted with solar discs suspended from their necks,
or linked together by gold or silver chains. The latter
generally indicates a human being under an enchantment,
living in the guise of a swan. Kings, princes, knights
and maidens are the subjects of such transformations
in Celtic tales.
One
tale concerns Angus, the son of the Dagda, who fell
in love with the swan maiden C?er Ibormeith ('Yew Berry'),
who appeared to him in a dream. He asked her parents
for her hand in marriage, but they told him their daughter
chose to live as a swan on alternate years, so they
couldn't grant his request. At Samhain, she went to
Lough Bel Dracon with one hundred and fifty other swan
maidens, linked by silver chains. To win her, Aengus
would have to go to the lough and pick her out from
the other swans. Accordingly, the young god went to
the lake, and called to her. In the end, he had to jump
into the water and become a swan himself before she
would go to him. Together they flew three times around
the lough, singing sweetly, casting a spell that put
everyone in the vicinity to sleep for three days and
three nights. It is interesting to note that Caer's
transformation was her own choice, and that it was Angus
who had to transform himself to be with her. Her name
['Yew Berry'] may give us some clues as to her nature,
since the yew is the death tree that stands in the graveyard,
symbolising eternal life. They met at Samhain, the death
time of the year.
The
children of the sea god Lir were changed into swans
by their jealous stepmother and had to spend nine hundred
years in swan form, three hundred years at each of three
places in Ireland. They could only become human when
a prince from the north married a princess from the
south and a church bell was rung in Ireland [an 'improvement'
to the tale added by the Christian recorders]. These
things happened and St. Patrick's bell was rung. The
children were restored, but were nine hundred years
old and immediately died of old age.
Swans
appear as guides to the dead, taking them to the Far
Northern Otherworld, through the swan-veils. The Nordic
Valkyries were such creatures, who could discard swan
plumage to become human.
It
was once believed that the mute swan sings only once,
just before it dies, hence the phrase 'swan song', meaning
a person's final work. Socrates and Plato both spoke
of the belief that a swan only sings once, when it is
dying. Its song was associated with prophecy [knowing
its own death] and with Apollo, god of music, whose
soul became a swan. Apollo's lye had a swan's neck,
head, feet and feathers carved upon it. The singer Orpheus
is also said to have become a swan after his death.
Swans are very much associated with the bardic mysteries;
swan skin and feathers were used to make the cloak of
a Celtic poet. Celtic bards carried chains which they
shook for silence, and this may be the origin of the
swan wearing a chain. In some stories, the song of a
swan held magical properties that could make mortals
sleep. The swan became the bird of poets; Shakespeare
is referred to as 'the swan of Avon'. It in this context
that it became the bird of solitude and retreat.
Swans
are linked to thunder gods and folklore has it that
swan's eggs will only hatch in a thunderstorm, requiring
the lightening to strike the shell. It is said that
if a swan stretches its head and neck over its wings
in the day a thunderstorm is brewing. Swans pull the
bark of the sun across the Underworld sea at night.
Apollo's chariot was pulled by swans when he journeyed
to the land of the Hyperboreans, the people who lived
behind the North Wind, the country of his birth, identified
with Britain.
With
the exception of one occasion, the swan is always representative
of that which is pure and noble. The one time when it
is baneful is when it is black, and is taken for a demon
that pursues wrongdoers.
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