Muses (sacred poetry) is often seen with a pensive expression; Terpsichore (choral dance and song) is often seen dancing and carrying a lyre; Thalia (comedy) is often seen with a comic mask; and Urania (astronomy) carries a pair of compasses and the celestial globe. Greek "mousa" is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means "art" or "poetry". According to Pindar, to "carry a "mousa"" is "to excel in the arts". The word derives from the Indo-European root "men-", which is also the source of Greek "Mnemosyne" and "mania", English "mind", "mental" and "monitor", Sanskrit "mantra"
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day the right hand of God, that man May come unto the general dance. Chorus Thomas Cahill, in his book "Mysteries of the Middle Ages" (Doubleday, 2006), presents this song as an English carol in which Christ speaks of his incarnation, his "dancing day". Cahill writes that the carol can be found on extant broadsides, which makes it certainly as old as early printing, but still impossible to date. He goes on to suggest that the phrase "the legend of my play" appears to be an allusion to a mystery play, and that the song might well have been sung at