Winter Wk A 2024 -- The Winter Queen -- Recap

Dragon's Eye Adventures began the 2024 season with The Winter Queen.We spent February vacation in the art and STEM rooms of the Durham Community School, as part of the Freeport RSU5 Community Programs. Eight dedicated sleuths joined our staff for a story based on Scottish myths about the Winter and Summer Queen.

Over the four days of our adventure, the detectives examined multiple versions of the stories about the Cailleach Bheura (Ky-lee-ach Vee-reh), the Winter Queen, and her eight sisters, who are also Cailleachs. In some stories, the Cailleach is a wise old woman who helps her community. In others, she and her sisters are fierce storm goddesses, who live half the year as raging winter queens and the other half as white serpents who bring spring flowers and summer and fall harvests.

As is the case with so many of the myths I love, this is another story about the constellations Orion and Scorpio. The year is divided into two halves--winter and summer -- with each constellation ruling the sky in their respective season. 

If you rise at 4 AM in Feb, you will see Scorpio in the southern skies of Maine, with the red star Antares sparkling between the trees on the horizon. Scorpio will rise earlier and earlier, ruling the summer skies the way Orion rules the fall and winter.

Our Ground Hog's Day was originally a day dedicated to the White Serpent -- who gradually became the Summer Queen known as St. Bride (Bree-deh) in Scotland, and St. Bridget in Ireland. Her response to the sun determined and early or late spring, in the same way as the Ground Hog.

Later versions of this story introduce Angus Og as the Summer King searching for the imprisoned Bride. In other versions, there is a Winter and Summer King who fight over Bride, with the Summer Queen winning her hand at Beltane. Our story focused on the earlier story of the two queens.

Our wonderful team of detectives learned all of this in bits and pieces over the week, uncovering new discoveries each day as they followed Molly the Scotty dog to Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the Scotland highlands. Molly lost her voice, but she was able to communicate with her tale and her head, and the maps she brought with her.

She led them to the mountain top, where they saw the swirling storm of the eight Cailleachs and the nine Storm Wolves, circling the mountain again and again and again. A powerful spell kept them guarding the Cailleach's winter abode, where she kept her summer prisoner.

An white-tailed sea eagle named Albi (played by James) was blown back to the detectives by the storm wolves. Our team healed the eagle and soon gained its trust, learning about a secret tunnel accessed by the Corryvreckan Whirlpool off to the southwest.

This is not the first time our detectives have traveled via whirlpool! It will not be the last, either, with trolls on the agenda for April vacation.

One of the more hilarious encounters of the week was with a Serpent lock inside the tunnels, guarding a door. This off-the-page moment involved a question by the detectives that took the serpent by surprise: Had the serpent ever had a break.

Breaks were a point of discussion for our group this week. James had his first job as a Program Assistant, and getting breaks is important for staff but puzzling to those who just want to hang out with one another during our breaks.

This serpent was already puzzled by the detectives. When puzzled or confused, the serpent grew another head, so it could consider the situation with more care. Before we knew it, the serpent lock had a thousand heads puzzling over this idea of a break, and something called a vacation.

Needless to say, the detectives had discovered a very effective bargaining chip. Let them through, and they would take up the cause of breaks with the Cailleach, promising the serpent something it had never had (along with a thank you card, and a trophy for guarding the door so effectively for thousands of years).

Our team solved each problem they encountered with determination and grit. They threw snowy yarnballs back at the Storm Wolves and Cailleachs who tried to stop them. They listened to their Secret Keeper birds and other creatures for bits of advice. They deciphered the runes on the old maps, and treated Nessy and Nelly with great respect, building their courage, compassion, wisdom, respect, and honor into a pile of jewels that couldn't fit into the jewel bag.

Their paper airplanes soured to great heights (and didn't come down). The dice and crackers were stacked to great heights, and the wands balanced magically on one end.

This wasn't on the page (i.e. anywhere in the adventure) -- just our fun during free time! We had a great week, full of sewing, games and story -- and laughter. I'm always delighted by how much we laugh at the funny things that happen along the way.

It felt amazing to be back, telling stories to detectives who dive right into the mystery with the same enthusiasm James and I have. It's really special, this funny little program. I traveled all the way to New Orleans for a national conference on Out of School Time, and didn't find another like it.

There are a few, but ours is extra special. And I thank each and every detective, each family, each staff member for joining me once again in this delightful conjuration of story and fun. James was wonderful as a Dragonmage. His years of experience allowed him to enter into the magic-making side of things seemlessly, and his relationships with our detectives made the week extra special.

Thank you to Chris Guerette from RSU5 Community Programs! Thank you to the Durham Community School for the creative spaces -- we were very much at home in the art and STEM rooms. Visit the Dragon's Eye Adventures Facebook page for images of the Ice Crowns and balancing tricks!

The Winter Queen 2023

The Winter Queen
RL McNulty, 2022
Micron Pen/Colored Pencil

Happy New Year! I thought I'd celebrate the new year with a newly-finished image of the Winter Queen.

The Winter Queen comes from Irish and Scottish legends about the Cailleach Bheur, the Blue Hag that ushers in Winter. It's helpful to know that there used to be two seasons, rather than the four we recognize today. The Winter Queen is Orion, riding her battle boar into the sky in mid Autumn, when Winter used to begin on Nov.1. She's accompanied by her storm wolves (Canis Major and Minor), who create the howling winds and biting cold of winter snowstorms.

Her counterpart is the Summer Queen, who first appears (or is born) on the sunrise horizon near Imbolc in February. She is the White Serpent, or Scorpio -- and her peak over the horizon is similar to our Groundhog Day. Either she emerges for and early spring, or she dives back in leaving the old queen to rage on into March.

Undestanding the celestial nature of the dance of these two queens really helps me understand the mythology. As I've been ill this fall and winter, I have woken up mulptiple times at night, so have been able to watch this turning of the wheel overhead. Orion creeps by my window earlier and earlier, gradually giving rise to Cancer and the Beehive, which my detectives may remember as the source of bees who bring souls and the inspiration of the Muses into the world.

Leo follows, and then Virgo lounges as she passes overhead, carried on one of the many serpents in the sky. Libra is up now and Scorpio is just about to become more visible in preparation for Imbolc. If you think of this in terms of the zodiac, a constellation must be far enough away from its month behind the sun that it can be visible again in the night sky.

There are later male versions of this story, too -- the Winter King and the Summer King fighting over a beautiful maiden. The beautiful maiden gradually grows old until she becomes the hag of winter. Like the queens, the kings are associated with the Little Sun of winter and the Big Sun of summer.

After studying stories like these, I think the Baba Yaga and Koschei the Deathless represent another set of winter/summer battle myths. The Baba Yaga travels in her mortar and pestle, creating stormy winds with her broom. She lives on the border of the underworld realm, and the solar knights of sunrise, midday and sunset emerge from her house.

Koschei strives to kidnap the beautiful maiden and the firebird--and he even has the cauldron and the skeleton knights that show up in the Celtic tales. 

In the Celtic versions, the cauldron is represented in the sky by the circumpolar constellations -- the whirling forms represent the place where the Red Bird souls enter and leave the land of the living. This is the origin of our tradition about cardinals and red birds as representing loved ones who have passed away. The Red Birds find their way by climbing the World Tree into the Sky and following the Milky Way to the Cailleach's cauldron of life and death and life again.

A very blessed new year to you all! May the Red Birds watch over you as the Winter Queen does her best to bluster her way out of the rule of the passage of time. It's good to know that in time, even she will have to give way to the new birth of the tiny solar babe that will bring the blessings of spring and summer back to us.

Winter Queen - Recap - Winter 2017

This past week, nine Detectives joined forces to take on the Cailleach Bheur, the Winter Queen of Scottish mythology. This one-eyed, blue-skinned, wrinkled old giant was in a tizzy and her Storm Wolves were exhausted. Winter would never end, unless the Detectives intervened.

The Detectives started by visiting the Winter Queen, to find out why she was in such a fury. They approached her at the Corryvreckan Whirlpool, where she washes her green plaid white, but the lady was not interested in talk. She blew the Detectives on a northeastern wind all the way to Loch Ness.

Nessy's Throne Room

Yes, that would be the Loch Ness, home of the Loch Ness monster. Naturally, Nessy made her appearance and the Detectives learned the secret of why the Cailleach was in a bad mood. I'm trying not to give away secrets for the next time the Detectives solve this case, so let me just say that this group of Detectives used some clever methods to reach Nessy. There were selkies and quartz crystals and a very funny little crab. And, of course, Nessy. Her throne room was particularly lovely.

So, then the team flew on the backs of Storm Wolves to a certain barn and some fields, where they searched for a certain something that shall go unnamed. They're clever, these Detectives, so naturally, they found it and returned it to its caretaker. He promised not to lose it again.

With the problem solved, the Detectives returned to the Winter Queen. Surely, she would be happy, now that they had fixed things. She wasn't. Well, she was, but it wasn't enough. She kind of liked being Winter Queen, and wasn't really ready to let spring return.

Cailleach Bheur and Storm Wolves

So the Detectives headed to the place where the Winter Queen hides her most precious treasure, the one that brings spring back to the world. They found it ... guarded, of course, by something rather frightening. This was where courage came in, time outs were called and those handy little invisibility spells made all the difference.

Once again, our team prevailed and the treasure was found. I can't say any more about it, only that it was really tiny and really ... no, I can't say that or it will give it away. So sorry! All I can say is that it was really precious and really helpful.

The Detectives returned once again to the Winter Witch, only this time they went disguised as Winter Lairds and Ladies from far away Alaska. Who knew there were Lairds and Ladies of Winter in Alaska? Fortunately, they managed to fool the Cailleach Bheur with their clever disguises. While she and her sister were using their wands to created more snow and ice crystals, the Detectives were secretly planting Snow Drops.

I know my Detectives reading this are saying, "But wait! She left out this and this and this!" Yes, I have left out some very important details, like the Salmon of Knowledge and a certain something from the Hazel Grove of the Underworld ... but some secrets must be kept. So I shall end here. I'm happy to report that spring will return this year, thanks to our Detectives.

I'd really like to thank Mathea for her assistance this week! She is one of the older Detectives, who volunteered to help, so she played on my side. She played Nessy and the Winter Queen's sister and she made a really beautiful ice crown with hearts. You can see it along with the other beautiful ice crowns and ice wands on the Facebook page album, Winter Queen Crowns.

Pictures of the toy theaters that the children made may be found here.

Winter Queen Update

Serpent's Eye of Winter
Photo by R L McNulty

February 2 was Imbolc Day, and the weather was sunny and mild. That means the Cailleach went in search of more wood for her fire. Settle in for a long winter ... we're going to need the help of some Dragon's Eye Detectives to end this winter!

There are still four more spaces in "The Winter Queen"--the mystery we're running during February break. This adventure for ages 6 to 12 will be held at the Landing Y in Brunswick.

The story is growing nicely on the yellow pages where new Dragon's Eye stories begin. Who knew that the tale of the queen of winter would lead to yet another serpent dragon, one that is not only a solar serpent, but an Oroborus? I didn't, but as usual am delighted by the discovery of the more ancient roots of this seasonal myth.

It has its origins not in Ireland or Scotland, but in what is today Spain. Which makes me wonder if there's a hidden tie to Egypt. The Cailleach has much in common with Mehen, the Egyptian Oroborus who provides the serpent roads for the solar god to travel through the seasons and the day/night cycle.

Both myths are essentially star myths. The Oroborus is the Yellow Road, the ecliptic along which the sun appears to move in its journey across the heavens. If you think about this path as a serpent swallowing its tail, you begin to understand the otherwise puzzling story tying a serpent to a solar myth.

The myth will certainly provide a delightful tale for our detectives! We'll be encountering Storm Wolves and a magical baby and the Cailleach herself. Better bring winter gear, because the storms will be blowing inside this adventure!