There are times when cultures clash leading to humbling and sometimes ominous outcomes. In this case, the conflict involved science butting its head with sailing lore.
I am a scientist, a Professor of Psychiatry at a medical school. I am trained to debunk myths and rituals. In fact, many rituals are deemed to be pathological. People believe in magic and concoct many, often life strangling, rituals to keep them seemingly protected and safe. In OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) these rituals can ruin people’s lives. I spend many of my professional hours trying to help people free themselves from the tyranny that these rituals can cause.
Naturally, when I purchased my current boat, I thought nothing of erasing its old name and placing “Knot Again” in gold foil on her transom. My previous boat, an older Pearson, lovingly restored to better than new condition, was dubbed “Knots of Luck” when we renamed her after purchase. I wanted other names such a “Olimbic Games” ( a pun on the limbic system, the emotional control center of the brain) and other cute appellations, which were summarily dismissed by my Admiral. The family was able to agree on Knot’s of Luck, so it was done. Nothing bad happened.
When we bought our next boat it was named Persephone. Prior to it being called Persephone its original owner named it Ariadne. For those of you not up on mythology, Ariadne was the daughter of king Minos of Crete and his wife Pasiphae, the daughtrer of Helios, the sun-titan. Ariandne’s claim to fame was her aiding and abetting Theseus in overcoming the Minotaur.
The story goes that Minos’ son was killed in a war against Athens. Minos, then attacked Athens and the vanquished Athenians asked for term so he would not further destroy the city and its inhabitants. The settlement required 7 young men and 7 maidens be sacrificed every nine years to the Minotaur. To make matters more interesting, a white bull, was sent to Minos by Poseidon as a sign showing that his beating out his brothers for the crown of Crete was sent by Poseidon in answer to Minos’ prayer. Minos was supposed to offer this bull as an offering to Poseidon, but, kept it as he thought it was beautiful (those old timers really had problems listening!). To make matters worse, Minos’ wife, Pasiphae, fell in love with the white bull. Legend has it that she had Daedalus build a wooden cow that she climbed inside of in order to make love with the bull. The Minotaur, half bull half man, was the monster created by this tryst. Dedaedalus was then summoned to build a giant maze, a labyrinth, to keep the Minotaur entrapped.
So Ariadne helped destroy her brother (half brother? This would be one of those times when the kid says her brother is a monster that she would be correct!). Back to the story. Theseus was one youth selected to be fed to the Minotaur. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus and helped him by providing him a sword and a ball of thread to find his way out of the labyrinth. It worked just like an ancient GPS and Theseus was able to overcome the Minotaur and find his way out of the maze. To recap, after her mother slept with Poseidon’s gift to her father, which led to the creation of the Minotaur, Ariadne helped Theseus kill the Minotaur. Freud would have had a field day with that one! Do you think this might have caught Poseidon’s attention? Don’t piss off Poseidon.
I cannot imagine why someone would want to change such a fine boat name as Ariadne, but, the second owner decided to deep six Ariadne and replace it with Persephone.
Persephone has many stories associated with her, but to cut to the chase, she was kidnapped and taken to Hell, where she became known as the “dreaded goddess” and “Queen of the underworld” and consort of Hades. Now, due to many different shenanigans, lots of people including Demeter (who stopped the earth from making produce, Orpheus, Adonis and the nymph Minthe (who got creamed!), Pirithous and, get this, Theseus (see above) were tied up with chasing Persephone. Bad things happened to many who had dinner with Persephone and Hades. The idea of having my boat named after the Queen of Hell just did not seem right to me.
Just to complete the history lesson, at the gates of Hell here is a three headed dog named Cerberus. Cerberus’ job is to make sure that people only can get into Hell, but they cannot escape. This monster has a snake for a tail and snakes down his mane. He does his job well. Thus endeth the lesson.
Poseidon, I don’t worry about no stinking Poseidon, so I changed the name without due homage. We wanted to stay in the “Knot” family and, since this was the next boat, we decided on Knot Again. The next boat may be Knot Ever Again! Remember, Don’t Piss off Poseidon.