Cultural Reflections

For those who traverse the great deep and whose livelihood is sprung therefrom, there is an appreciation of the power the sea can have on all those crossing its domain. Since time immemorial humanity has crossed the waves. And while they understood much, the knowledge of the depths was far beyond what they could know; except for those things drawing close to the surface. But of all the mysteries coming down through the ages there are some things that are still not easily explained. At least not explained to the satisfaction of all. One can see a shark or an octopus and know what it is. A scientist can study it and logically explain what it does and how it lives in the depths. But not all mysteries are so easily determined. There is not always a concrete object one can touch or have solidly engraved in a photograph. There are things that a sailor sees or a bit of lore that all sailor know. There are taboos that mustn't be broken or terrible things are likely to result. Two similar t...

(I hardly knew how hard it was to work hard at this job, for I hardly worked at the jobs I have worked in the past). Have you ever had someone, whether it be a co-worker or someone else, come up to you and ask, "Are you working hard, or hardly working?" Of course anyone who said so would say it was meant as a joke, of sorts. One never wants to consider him/herself as "hardly working." Joke or not, the linguistic side of me had an odd thought, and caused me to think "deeper inside the box," so to speak. Let's take the two words "hard" and "hardly" and give them a closer look.  When we see the words, a bit of English logic would tell you that one of them is the adverb form of an adjective of the same root. So if something is done hardly, it should be in a strong or solid fashion, something done with great force. In this situation if something is hardly done, it has an almost opposite kind of emphasis. Making the meaning more like the ...

Caves are entrances to the unknown. When one first enters the darkness within the breadth and depth can never be known except by those determined to explore. Some are but a dent in the side of a mountain while others can branch off and go for miles. In the exploration of a cave one must keep in mind that when encountering a dead end it must be considered “Was it always a dead end or did something seal it? Is there a passage somewhere just on the other side of a roadblock which might not be a block to one who knows the way? Or what happens when the hill in question finds itself destroyed? If a fairytale be assigned to that spot does the story die with the hill?” Questions one might wonder should a hill holding such a cavern be destroyed.              Depending on who you ask, the cave called Ogo’r Ddinas (which burrowed into the hill called Craig y Ddinas) has a sleeping army guarding a great treasure. The leader of the army is ...

Due to its location in the Irish Sea Rathlin Island (Reachlainn in Irish) has been a crossroads back and forth between Ireland and Scotland for millennia. It is through Rathlin Island that the Gaels first crossed from Ireland to what we know today as Scotland. From the time of the Kingdom of Dal Riata, which spanned from Ulster in Ireland to Argyll and the Inner Hebrides in Scotland, the kingdom founded by King Loarn or Fergus (depending on the source) with its capital at Dunadd in Kintyre, the Gaelic language has been found across the islands between Britain and Ireland. With this migration went not only the Gaelic language of Eire, but many of the same stories and traditions. Even after the Irish side of the kingdom fell into the hands of other Irish princes interaction of one kind or another remained with the common culture. Rathlin was always caught in the middle of things. In 1860 J.F. Campbell’s Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected was published in Edinburgh. The...

The island of Crete is situated in a unique spot in the eastern Mediterranean. A little over four hundred miles from Alexandria, Egypt and 200 miles from Argos in mainland Greece, it is not evenly spaced between the two cultures, but it was still a crosswords between them until the Mycenaean and then later the Dorian Greeks began to dominate it. What we know for certain about the Minoans is based largely on archaeological finds as well as a few legendary references from Greek writings and works of art found on Crete and the Aegean islands. So what was the process of transition from one culture to the next, and how long did it take? That is the subject of much speculation over the ages. Besides the archaeology and paintings, there are literary sources that can be drawn upon for a few crumbs of information as well. The times that Crete shows up in ancient literature are few. Homer, Aristotle, Strabo, Herodotus, the Linear A and B writings found on Crete are sources of this information; a...