Storks and the myth of the eternal return

Unlike those dark swallows, which, according to the poet, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, never returned to Seville, there are other birds, beautiful and above all, highly appreciated in rural communities, to whose appointment, in that media month of February, which, in addition to marking the winter equinox, celebrates the figure of Saint Blaise, have never been lacking, perpetuating it, on the contrary, for endless generations: the storks. Therefore, if I had to paraphrase that great hermeneutic of Romanian origin, who was the admired Mircea Eliade, I would say that, in the stork, the extraordinary myth of the eternal return is contrasted in a much more evident way.

This is to such an extent that it is a real joy to observe how these, year after year, reoccupy the nests, which, season after season, they have been using, being much more spectacular, even, to observe them, above all, in those ancient temples. medieval stonecutters, to whom they not only confer a gratifying picturesque appearance, but with whom they also maintain a close relationship, because of their work, especially with regard to clearing snakes and snakes from the fields, the medieval stonecutters represented in their sculptures and even from the striking and resounding tapping of their beaks, traditional instruments and dances arose, which form an eminently ethnological and cultural part that keeps alive, as far as possible, the close relationship that has always existed between men and their environment.

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