An earlier article was published today by Eleni Harou in the MCD on the occasion of the weather conditions on the island. She refers to the wind ponte, the mythical Zephyr, for which she reveals its charms. Read on.
The Ponedes in Kythera
Every day at some point we will talk about wind and water, using that graceful and rich phraseology. What's he saying today? Where is he creaking? What does it show him for tomorrow? The weather's in the tinker's shop. "Silvanema, garbino, Anapapapalia, Prevezo, Ponentini, Garbinacza, Ponentaria, Vorarlada, Sirocada, donkey maestro, maestral, levantiera, sirocalade, tramuntboring.
Of all the winds, the Pontius is the most connected with Kythera. It is the wind that troubles the body with humidity and brings down that depressing rehearsal.
Apart from that it is the biggest and most insidious enemy of all outdoor events and even with the humidity it favours the Mediterranean fly, the downy mildew and the Mediterranean fly.
Yet in Greek mythology it is Zephyrus, a charming young man whose love for the nymph Chlorida gave birth to all the flowers of spring! And even for the ancients it was the gentle wind, with its light breath, with its sweet and cool breeze that dewed the Elysian plains. In Botticelli's famous painting “The Birth of Aphrodite” on the left, Zephyr and Aura are hovering in each other's arms and seem to be dancing in the air, blowing towards the goddess approaching the land of Kythera.
