One of the important spring constellations, it is named for the glorious wedding gift which Dionysus gave to his bride Ariadne which was a crown of stars. The name means Northern Crown. The story is pretty wild. Ariadne helped Theseus kill the monitor (the bull headed demi god who built a wondrous labyrinth and terrorized humans). Theseus had his way with her and abandoned her on the island of Naxos. What a cad! BUT, Ariadne was more fortunate that the usual starlets who grace the pages of supermarket tabloids, the god Dionysus was rolling by with his entourage. His chariot was pulled by leopards ("pards"), he was the god of wine and therefore always drunk but a nice and funny drunk. His followers were always up to something, so they would hunt honey with pots and pans (and pans), or dance away with cymbals clattering, or be fondling each other, or playing with dangerous snakes, or some thing. Dionysus fell for Ariadne and married her and made her his immortal wife and gave her the beautiful crown of stars to wear on their wedding day. He was also a lot better looking than Theseus, lasted longer in bed, and never turned up drunk at 3 a.m., he was drunk all the time so you knew exactly what you were getting. Ariadne and Dionysus were one of the few "happily ever after" love stories in the tales of the Gods. The Corona Borealis rises over the horizon in the spring and so is part of the vernal array of stars. Cold and sweet a bit of that quintessentially springtime violet with a great deal of skin musk and sugar crusting which is treated more like a perfume ingredient than a foody sort of novelty. Surprisingly grown up, womanly but at the same time very pretty, flirting with over pretty but not quite there. This is like a bit of smoke with no smoke, that is the best way I can describe it.
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