we all know that In ancient times the four winds were considered the divinities that governed their will over the meteorological phenomena of the Earth.
These divine winds were represented by poets and artists from various eras. The The most popular figuration of all is that of showing them as men with wings on their heads, feet or another part of their body to allude to their aerial speed.
In Christianity, the figure of the wind was associated with the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, whose breath gives life to everything on which it rests: “Come from the four winds, oh spirit, and blow on these remains so that they return to life” (Ez. 37,9).
Thus, in the Christian tradition, lhe winds that blow from the four corners of the earth suggest the perpetual omnipresence of the Holy Spirit.
Boreas: its alternative or Latin name was Septentrio, word derived from seven thirds “seven oxen”, alluding to the constellation Ursa Major. The word Septentrio is also the origin of northernboreal synonym meaning “from the north”.
His most important legend tells us how the violent and icy north wind, Boreas, descended in his step from his home in Thrace to Greece. Over there, He kidnapped Oritia, an Athenian princess with whom he married.
With her he had the winged twins Zetes and Calais, known as the Boreádas who tThey played a vital role in the rescue of King Phineus from the clutches of the Harpies, as they were the only ones who managed to drive the monsters away without killing them, as the goddess Iris had requested.
The Athenians regarded the north wind as a political protector. C.hen Athens was threatened by Xerxes, people prayed to Boreas, who is said to have brought gale-force winds that sank 400 Persian ships. A similar event had occurred twelve years earlier and Herodotus writes:
“…the Athenians are pretty sure that, just as Boreas had helped them before, he was equally responsible for what happened this time as well. And when they returned home they built an altar to the god by the river Iliso.”
Boreas gave his name to the legendary Hyperboreans, a mythical people who lived at the ends of the earth, magical and prosperous land, where she lived in the most absolute happiness and harmony. They were said to be immortal, as well as being described as gods.
The god Apollo drove his chariot towards this region to rejuvenate himself every nineteen years, that is, the period used by the constellations to carry out a complete revolution.
Heracles also arrived in this area during the course of one of his famous Twelve Labors: that of the capture of the Cirenean doe, which was so fast as to run in the water, just like, the same wind.
Its wings on the ankles and back are a sign of aerial and fast movement and the tubes through which it blows, the strong channel of its breath and emanation.
For always being a favorable wind for us, for being the father of the legendary Hyperborea with which we continue to identify in this group, magical land where there are, freed from the time of the world that enjoys of open happiness and because it is the only element capable of scaring away the harpies with the violence of its icy breath, symbol of the breath of the Romanesque spirit… this continues to be our protector and the evident identifying document of the Salud y Románico group
“To the beat of the Boreas
tear off the blindfold
and break all the chains”
Pilar Quirosa-Cheyrouze