Another cool thing about England: ravens
Feb. 21st, 2006 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissimaAP: Tower Ravens Caged Over Bird Flu Threat
It's pretty cool that they keep ravens there at all.
Nothing much going on with me. I had a three-day weekend, but I stayed indoors nearly the entire time because I didn't feel like going out in the genuine winter temperatures (20s and 30s F).
LONDON - The ravens at the Tower of London have been moved indoors to protect them from the threat of bird flu, the man in charge of the birds said Monday.
According to legend, if the ravens leave the 11th century fortress on the River Thames, its White Tower will crumble and the Kingdom of England will fall. King Charles II decreed in the 17th century that there must always be six ravens at the Tower.
"Although we don't like having to bring the Tower ravens inside, we believe it is the safest thing to do for their own protection, given the speed that the virus is moving across Europe," said Derrick Coyle, the Yeoman warder who is also the Tower's raven master.
A spokeswoman for the Tower said the six birds were taken inside as a "contingency measure" and will live in custom-built aviaries. The ravens are named Branwen, Hugine, Munin, Gwyllum, Thor and Baldrick.
It's pretty cool that they keep ravens there at all.
Nothing much going on with me. I had a three-day weekend, but I stayed indoors nearly the entire time because I didn't feel like going out in the genuine winter temperatures (20s and 30s F).
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-21 09:20 pm (UTC)I am amused to note that one of them has been named after Blackadder's sidekick (a more likely assumption than it being named after a weaponry belt). :D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-22 02:26 pm (UTC)So who is Gwyllum?
For those who like to know a bit of trivia...
Date: 2006-02-22 04:33 pm (UTC)Baldrick: Also noted as being equivelent to Beli, the Scottish "Lord of the Sun". He is also mentioned as being equivelent with the Famorii Balor, and also can be depicted as the ruler of the Celtic underworld, as well.
Branwen: Daughter of the Keltoi god Mannan and his beloved Iweridd, her name means "fair blosom" and she was considered a goddess of love, sexuality and the sea.
Gwyllum: A variant form of the name Uillin, who was grandson of Nuada and brother to Fionn MacCumhal. He was noted for having had liason and marrying a druidess who was above his station, and for this their daughter was turned into a dog.
Hugine: Or Hu the Mighty, the common ancestor-god of the Cymry (Welsh) people as the father of their kind, and is known to "come from the east" in their legends; he is also prominently noted in the story of the deluge... Great Flood... or Mabhinogi.
Munin: Another variation of her name is Munanna. Said to have been a princess who was taken by a Viking King as his wife, on the way back to his homelands, they faught and he drowned her. Her spirit took flight as a crane that gave a horrendous cry when raiding ships would near the shores of the British Isles.
Thor: (One hopes this is more obvious.) The Norse god of lightening, thunderstorms and battle.
I hope this helps bring the names to light a little bit more? }:=*)
Re: For those who like to know a bit of trivia...
Date: 2006-02-22 06:07 pm (UTC)Re: For those who like to know a bit of trivia...
Date: 2006-02-23 04:48 pm (UTC)But the tradition of naming the ravens was (at least in the past) to give each raven a name for Keltoi legendary and mythical figures of each tribe... thus you would have one that is Welsh-named, another that is Breton, a third that is Manx, a fourth that is Irish... et. al.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-22 06:41 pm (UTC)