Boreas Pocket Prayer Beads: Greek God of the North Wind, God of Winter

This set of Boreas prayer beads consists of twelve beads, to represent the Greek dodecatheon of twelve gods; there are many more than twelve Greek gods, but most cities had their own group of twelve. Joining the string is a pendant, a symbol representing the god. The compass represents his directional association with the north wind, while the snowflake reminds us that he is also the god of winter. Those familiar with modern seasonal and directional correspondences may notice that the seasons associated with the directional Winds are different. To the Greeks, Boreas the North wind ruled the cold gales of winter, Zephyros of the West wind brought the gentle spring breezes, and Notos of the South wind came with fierce summer rainstorms. The ancient Greeks knew four winds but three seasons (winter, spring and summer), which were associated with Boreas, Zephyrus and Notos respectively; while the East wind Euros' association with autumn is less well documented, it is a comfortable one It is