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| Mount Cleveland (NASA photo) |
Volcano’s active 2011 is literally threatening to spill over into 2012. Last year’s growth of a lava dome “in the summit crater
area” had plugged “the conduit” - causing major eruptions on
December 25th and 29th. Because another lava dome is now
gathering steam, Mount Cleveland once again threatens to blow her top.
This mighty stratovolcano is located on Chuginadak Island (one of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands – aptly named after the fire goddess Chuginadak). Although Chuginadak might sometimes get lonely (residing in a rather remote part of the world), she has plenty of international counterparts to commiserate with.
One Pacific soul sister would be the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele. According to Squidoo.com, Pele fled to the Hawaiian Islands after sleeping with her sea-goddess sister’s husband (a definite no-no, even by superhuman standards). Every now and then, Pele will fling some fire down to the ocean, just to keep the feud aflame (and afloat). When not engaging in such sibling rivalry, Pele turns her attention to the gifts that humans (who fear being treated as shabbily as Pele’s sister) bestow upon her. These gifts, which are generally left nearby Pele’s “fire pits,” include a wide array of tropical fruits.
And then there’s Vulcan, the blacksmith of the Roman deities. Sounds rather humble a task for a fire breathing god of his ilk – but, in actuality, that’s what’s kept his reputation alive for centuries. After all, the very name “volcano” honors his achievements. No less a poet than Virgil has extolled his virtues in this manner: “You can hear the echo of mighty blows on anvils, Ingots of iron hissing in the caverns, fire belching
from the furnaces – the home of Vulcan, and the name of that land is Volcania.”
Perhaps some skeptics are thinking that ancient “myths” such as these are long gone. These same skeptics might wish to steer clear of the Earth’s ring of fire. Sleeping dogs may lie still for a very long time, but when they awake they are hungry. Ravenous even… At that point, it might just pay to urgently petition the neighborhood fire deity.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Volcano
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/new-lava-dome-spotted-at-cleveland-volcano-in-alaska/
http://www.archaeology.org/9807/abstracts/volcano.html
http://www.squidoo.com/volcano-mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovolcano
Copyright February 2, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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