East wind

An east wind is a wind that originates in the east and blows west. In Greek mythology, Eurus, the east wind, was the only wind not associated with any of the three Greek seasons, and is the only one of these four Anemoi not mentioned in Hesiod's "Theogony" or in the Orphic Hymns.

There is an intentional community called the East Wind Community located in the Missouri Ozarks. Their name was taken from a quote by Mao, which was along the lines of "The East Wind shall prevail over the West."

Literary references

In Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Garden of Paradise", it is the East Wind who takes the hero to visit the eponymous garden.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", the East Wind, like most other things dealing with the east, is viewed as a thing of evil. In Book III (which appears in "The Two Towers"), after Aragorn and Legolas have sung a lament for Boromir involving invocations of the other three winds, the following dialogue takes place:

cquote|"You left the East Wind to me," said Gimli, "but I will say naught of it." "That is as it should be," said Aragorn. "In Minas Tirith they endure the East Wind, but they do not ask it for tidings. ..."

In George MacDonald's "At the Back of the North Wind", on the other hand, the East Wind is described as more mischievous than strictly evil; the North Wind comments, "... [O] ne does not exactly know how much to believe of what she says, for she is very naughty sometimes..."

Few more literary references to East Wind1) In PG Wodehouse's novel Cocktail Time, a wife asks her husband to wear a Muffler because there is a nasty East wind blowing.2)In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's His Last Bow

The two friends (Sherlock and Watson) chatted in intimate converse for a few minutes, recalling once again the days of the past, while their prisoner vainly wriggled to undo the bonds that held him. As they turned to the car Holmes pointed back to the moonlit sea and shook a thoughtful head."There's an East wind coming, Watson.""I think not, Holmes. It is very warm.""Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an East wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared."

Biblical references

Some 17 references to East Wind exist in the Authorized King James Version of the English Old Testament. In chapter 41 of Genesis, the pharaoh's dream, that is interpreted by Joseph, describes seven ears of corn blasted by the east wind. In chapters 10 and 14 of Exodus, the east wind is summoned by Moses to bring the locusts that plague Egypt and to part the Red Sea so that the Children of Israel can escape pharaoh's armies. Several other references exist, most associating the east wind with destruction. Often this destruction is of the wicked by God. [Gen. 41: 6, 23, 27;Ex. 10: 13;Ex. 14: 21;Job 15: 2;Job 27: 21;Job 38: 24;Ps. 48: 7;Ps. 78: 26;Isa. 27: 8;Jer. 18: 17;Ezek. 17: 10;Ezek. 19: 12;Ezek. 27: 26;Hosea 12: 1;Hosea 13: 15;Jonah 4: 8;Hab. 1: 9]

References