THE CONE THE CUCKOO AND KYKKO

One of the oldest and best-known monasteries in Cyprus is The Holy, Royal Stavropegic Monastery of Kykkos (Greek: Ιερά Μονή Κύκκου). 

As the Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos it was founded around the end of the 11th century (1081 - 1118) by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos . 

The monastery lies at an altitude of 1318 meters on the North West face of Troödos Mountains, 20 km west of Pedoulas, and it is one of the loveliest, and wealthiest monasteries in Cyprus.


There are no remains of the original monastery as it was burned down many times and rebuilt.

According to tradition, still preserved by the people of Cyprus, the story behind its name 'Kykkos' began long ago, when a 'bird with a human voice' came flying around the area singing: 

"Kykkou, Kykkou, Kykkous' hill a monastery the site shall fill
A golden girl shall enter in and never shall come out again."

So one wonders, who the GOLDEN GIRL could be and second, why the poor golden girl will be imprisoned for ever and ever.

I believe this idea, this bird with a human voice is the soul of a Cuckoo Bird could be based on the negative aspect of the character of the Cuckoo bird being and it is being used as a metaphor to aid patriarchy chastise feminine freedom and authority is similar to the MESOPOTAMIAN fish substitute, from the lascivious fish mammal, ( the porpoise, dolphin and monk seal,)  all symbols of power of the East Med Sea Peoples from 3000 B.C.  to the power of chastity, a transition  brought about by Oannes the fishman, who came forth out of the waters as a chaste fresh water fish, which became a fundamental symbol  of Christianity till today is a well known one.

Todays, Kykko Monastery is the most important religious center still established and very popular in Cyprus, for there is a  legend regarding an icon within of the 'Virgin,' the “Mother of God”.  The 'Golden Girl" one wonders. This legend was told by a hermit in Cyprus in the 15^th century.

It is a story of how the prayers of a monk in the 11^th century brought about the healing of a governor of Cyprus and a princess of Asia and how these events led the Emperor of Constantinople to give to the people of Cyprus his most precious possession: an icon of the Mother of God, holding the child Christ, painted by the Saint Luke, one of the authors of the Gospel. So it differs from the image of a Golden Girl without child.

This icon 'Mother of God.'  is among the oldest continuously active miracle-working images in the Christian world.  This  legend, was already well formed when it was first recorded in the fifteenth century.

The Monastery has been sheltering the icon since the eleventh century and this  tradition has been preserved by the people of Cyprus for over nine hundred years now. 

The icon at Kykkos Monastery  is called the miracle-working icon of the Eleousa, the merciful Mother of God. This was written by Saint Luke the evangelist and first iconographer.

The icon is said to be one of three original icons commissioned by the Virgin Mary and is also known as the Kykkotissa. The Holy Virgin herself, it is written, held and blessed these three icons and said, “The grace of the One born of me, be with them through me.” It is her touch that provides the panel with miraculous power. For this reason, the Eleousa is believed to be grace-filled and is a symbol of salvation in Cyprus. Hymns dedicated to the honor of the Mother of God of Kykkos, glorify her as “the Queen of the entire world, expressing the joy of all the angels. She is also praised as the mediator of all of sinful humanity. She is the pride of the Cypriots.

For some time now the icon is not looked at and remains hidden behind a protective covering. It is said that whoever looks at it will be blinded. The fact is that the icon is rarely uncovered and this happens on occasions like when recently there was a drought affecting Cyprus. Only in response to great calamity the fathers take the icon to her throne, and read special supplications for rain? Whilst obviously looking away from it when uncovered. Sailors in the know still pray to the Lady of Kykkos to save them from the storms of the sea.

According to legend, the Archangel Gabriel gave Saint Luke the boards from the Tree of Knowledge in Paradise on which he painted the icons seven years after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The question I need answered is whether the Golden Lady referred to in the song, where it says “never shall come out again is referring to our lascivious Kypris or Aphrodite/Venus. 

There are other stories of girls in Cyprus that predate the icon of the "VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD" at KYKKOS. Like for example our Aphrodite Ourania. One wonders if  the clue could be in the words sang by the KYKKOU BIRD with a human voice, singing the prophetic line "A golden girl shall enter in and never shall come out again." 

Golden Girl  reminds one of SOVEREIGN GOLDEN GODDESS OF CYPRUS. Chronologically the Golden Ones or One was, KYPRIS/APHRODITE/ VENUS. The stories of the Cypriot 'Goddess,' as Sister, Daughter, Consort, Wife or Mother of the creative GOD the DEIMURGE, go back at least 5000 years. Thus it does not seem far fetched if I suggest the song of the  half human half bird lament that describes the fate the fate of SHE, the Golden Sovereign of Cyprus.

The fate of the Golden Girl is a universal one, it is the transition of the absolute sovereign power shift that took place from the SOVEREIGN FEMININE TO THE SOVEREIGN MASCULINE. 

I believe that there is a strong possibility that Kykkos Monastery represents, or was established to represent the antithesis of the idea that previous lascivious fertility cults promoted on the island from the most ancient of times (InannaTamuz). What is significant is the fact that the most Golden of all the Ladies known in Cyprus was Golden Aphrodite. The Golden Womb of the Hindi. Her cult as we well know encouraged the female to be sexually proactive and nurture all life freely.

The story of Aphrodite, the original ‘Golden Lady’ has her arriving on the island in the very Late Bronze Age, with the Greek speakers. The legend tells us how she went directly up the mountain to meet with the four male gods who each desired to possess her. Aphrodite like the icon came across the sea and having stepped onto Cypriot soil tip-toed her way up to a summit, to Kikkou, Kikkou.

The fact is that the migratory Cuckoo that comes to Cyprus at the beginning of spring is limited to the altitude of Kykkos Hill.

Almost all European nations attributed a role of sibyl/oracle to the Cuckoo. For me the most revealing paragraph on the Cuckoo comes from the White Goddess written by Robert Graves which makes it clear that within her call in the cacophony of spring, is both the question and the answer. 

“She calls out Qui, Qui, Qui, the Why, Why, Why, and she acts in the spirit of  Kou, Kou, Kou “Why Not, Why Not, Why Not.” This is life and this is death, this is love and this is loss, the question, of why not is plain enough.

If you are not aware of the symbolic potential of a Cuckoo then I refer you to the Mike Birkhead Associates’ production, for the BBC series NATURAL WORLD of cuckoos to Kykkos. The latest scientific findings tell a gripping tale of springtime murder, mystery and deceit.

The cuckoo is a cheat in love, a thief with a killer instinct. But just how does this traditional signaler of spring trick other birds into accepting its eggs? 

Narrator David Attenborough goes a long way to explain what it is about the Cuckoo that has perplexed nature-watchers for thousands of years.

However one question still remained with me, which
Graves answered adequately enough, and that is the ‘why’ followed by the 'why not'. This lovely rogue is so popular that it’s celebrated by composers, poets, playwrights, in folklore, nursery rhymes and why not the Cypriots?

Cuckoo behavior also fascinated Aristotle and Aristophanes (who invented Cloud Cuckoo Land). Its call has inspired music by Bach, Handel and Delius and the bird is also celebrated in prose and poems by, among others, Chaucer, Shakespeare and William Wordsworth.

There is also the sayings in myth and folklore, that hearing a cuckoo call is a good omen for those who plan to marry, but only a warning of adultery for those married already

Hera, the ancient Greek goddess of matrimony, is often depicted with a cuckoo on her scepter. The India god, Indra, assumes the guise of a cuckoo for seduction. The word ‘cuckold’ (the spouse of an unfaithful partner) derives from the bird’s name. Zeus won Hera by a trick. He transformed himself into a cuckoo, started a storm with a rain and landed on the hill where Hera was talking a walk. When she sat down to rest, the frozen and soaked with rain cuckoo flew onto her lap. The goddess felt sorry for the bird and warmed it by putting it against her breast. Then, Zeus showed his real face. Hera at first resisted, but then she agreed to become his lover only after he had promised to marry her. Another presentation of the story tells how Zeus turned to his normal shape, raped Hera, who then insisted He marry her to cover her shame.

In Baltic tradition Cuckoo is a bird of Laima, goddess of destiny. Cuckoo is mentioned in Lithuanian wedding songs as well. There are many sayings related to the cuckoo bird, the most telling of them is that we only understand the song of a cuckoo if we have suffer from the pain of a broken heart. Cuckoos are seen as mediators between the worlds of the living and the dead. The cuckoo is seen as a messenger of spring. The fifth month of the year has the name of a cuckoo in Lithuania.

Laima in Latvian like Aphrodite was the personification of fate and luck in the Latvian and Lithuanian mythologies.  She was associated with childbirth, marriage, and death; she was also the patron of pregnant women. Laima like Aphrodite and her functions are identical to the Hindu goddess Lakhsmi. Laima was related to a Gegutė (cuckoo). Gegutė was responsible for time and the succession of the seasons. The number of her calls was believed to predict how long a person had left to live. In spring she would also determine how a person would spend the remainder of the year. Laima's sacred tree like that of Philyra’s is the linden. 

The Vedic understanding is that a cuckoo is a soul, both before and after its incarnation. They say the Body represents a strange nest in which the soul settles. 

Because cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds and does not care to breed it’s own, other birds avoid them. Even today whores are often referred to as cuckoos because of this fact. The devil was also compared to a cuckoo: there is a saying “Not a devil, nor a cuckoo”.

The following poem  Love's Labor Lost ends Shakespeare's play which was among his comedies.The poem is certainly meant to be humorous. However it plays on that stereotype of spring fever when people's emotions are thought to get the better of them. So a golden girl shall enter in and never shall come out again.

When daisies pie Sod, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
'Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo!' O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
'Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo!' O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

Of course, the "cuckoo" is also the reminder to the "cuckolded" that his wife has been unfaithful. There seems to be a tremendous amount of temptation and abandon induced by the Cuckoo in the season of spring, a wanton disregard of convention. Shakespeare gives a warning, for those who do step over the line causing misery and fear. A woman hurts her husband, and a man, by cuckolding another, only expands the universe of cuckoldry so that he might have reason to fear as well.

We can follow the cuckoo  to Orpheus, to the myth of Saturn and Rhea, to that of Faunus and Fauna, to Siegfried in the north, to Cuchulain in the west. 

For me the Word, "cuckoo,"  awakens the bosom of the green world , the songs of birds, the sap in trees and the mounting warmth in the blood of the enchanted feminine from her long winter sleep. Cuckou is a bringer of Spring, a champion of the sun.