Friday, May 22, 2009

"Agora"

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"Christianity gets a bad rap in Alejandro Amenabar's 'Agora', a historical epic in which the early church is shown violently oppressing other faiths, science and women in its bid for political power," writes Mike Goodridge in Screen. "An enormously ambitious attempt to recreate the conflicts of 4th century Alexandria, many of which are still raging today, 'Agora' ultimately fails to hang together narratively and does not engage on the same grand emotional level as the sword and sandal epics of old - 'Quo Vadis?,' 'Ben-Hur' et al - which it is clearly trying to reinvent."

Introducing his interview with Amenabar for the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein tells us first how the director became interested in Hypatia, "who lived in Alexandria during the 4th century AD, in the waning days of the Roman Empire. The daughter of Theron, the last director of the famed Library of Alexandria, she was not only a brilliant theorist in astronomy, but a mathematician and philosopher.... It's the story of Hypatia, who is played by Rachel Weisz, that Amenabar tells in 'Agora'... It's a fascinating film, crammed with both stirring visual images and intellectual ideas. The film is at its most compelling when Amenabar shows the once-stable civilization of Alexandria being overwhelmed by fanaticism, perhaps because the bearded, black-robe clad Christian zealots who sack the library and take over the city bear an uncanny resemblance to the ayatollahs and Taliban of today."

"Amenabar gets most of the epic staples out of the way relatively early: flatly acted scenes of textbook exposition, overly earnest extras, main characters who wander unscathed through hordes of butchery and, of course, frequently swelling music." Natasha Senjanovic in the Hollywood Reporter: "The story then becomes a timely parable on religious intolerance, inexorable fundamentalist violence and the powerlessness of reason and personal freedom in the face of both."

"Amenabar, the director of visually memorable features such as 'The Others' and 'The Sea Inside' clearly aimed to make an old school epic of Cecil B Demille proportions, and ended up with a hollow reflection of one," writes Eric Kohn at indieWIRE. "It's worth noting that 'Agora' looks fantastic, with magnificent virtual camera movements that swoop down from space to a large scale replica of Alexandria, taking full advantage of the wide screen canvas. Frequent cutaways to the cosmos, which underscore Hypathia's lectures, would look great on IMAX. In the context of the movie, they overshadow the rest of the narrative." (...)

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"Αgora", η Ταινία για τη Φιλόσοφο Υπατία

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Την Αλεξανδρινή φιλόσοφο της σχολής του Πλωτίνου (μαθηματικές και εμπειρικές σπουδές) Υπατία έκαναν γνωστή η Ρέητσελ Γουάιζ και ο Αλεχάνδρο Αμεναμπάρ στο κινηματογραφόφιλο κοινό την Κυριακή στο φεστιβάλ των Καννών.

Την Ελληνίδα λόγια (αστρονόμο/ μαθηματικό), που έζησε τον 4ο αιώνα μ.Χ και της οποίας ο θάνατος στα χέρια ενός χριστιανικού όχλου (διαμελίστηκε με όστρακα και στη συνέχεια κάηκε ζωντανή) θεωρείται από κάποιους πως σηματοδότησε το οριστικό τέλος της ελληνιστικής περιόδου (και του τρόπου σκέψης που αυτή πρέσβευε), ενσαρκώνει η βρετανίδα ηθοποιός Ρέητσελ Γουάιζ ( «Ο επίμονος κηπουρός», «The Fountain» ) στην ταινία «Αγορά» (Agora).

Ενώ η πτώση της ρωμαϊκής αυτοκρατορίας βρίσκεται προ των πυλών, στην Αλεξάνδρεια της Αιγύπτου η Υπατία προσπαθεί να διατηρήσει την επιστημονική γνώση της αρχαιότητας απέναντι στους όχλους των χριστιανών ζηλωτών - οι οποίοι, βλέποντας τους αριθμούς τους να αυξάνονται και το χριστιανισμό να κερδίζει συνέχεια έδαφος στην αυτοκρατορία, στρέφονται εναντίον των ειδωλολατρών και των Εβραίων. Ένα από τα θύματά τους είναι και η Αλεξανδρινή φιλόσοφος, η οποία χαρακτηρίζεται ως μάγισσα από τους ηγέτες των χριστιανών και οδηγείται σε ένα βίαιο θάνατο.

Κατά τη Γουάιζ, η ιστορία της Υπατίας είναι επίκαιρη ακόμα και σήμερα: «ουσιαστικά τίποτα δεν έχει αλλάξει από τότε. Έχουμε τεχνολογική και ιατρική πρόοδο, αλλά όσον αφορά τα φονικά στο όνομα ενός θεού, ο φονταμενταλισμός εξακολουθεί να βασιλεύει…ενώ δεν είναι λίγες οι κοινωνίες όπου οι γυναίκες θεωρούνται ακόμα πολίτες δεύτερης κατηγορίας και τους αρνείται το δικαίωμα στη μόρφωση».

Ο Αμεναμπάρ (που έχει επίσης σκηνοθετήσει το διάσημο θρίλερ «Οι Άλλοι», όπου πρωταγωνιστούσε η Νικόλ Κίντμαν) ανέφερε πως η ιδέα για την «Αγορά» του ήρθε αμέσως μετά την περάτωση του δράματος «Η Θάλασσα μέσα μου» (Mar adentro), το 2004, το οποίο και είχε τιμηθεί με βραβείο Όσκαρ Καλύτερης Ξενόγλωσσης Ταινίας. Κατά τα λεγόμενα του Χιλιανού σκηνοθέτη, ήθελε κάποιον αστρονόμο, αλλά όχι μια διάσημη φιγούρα όπως για παράδειγμα ο Γαλιλαίος - οπότε και οι έρευνές του τον οδήγησαν στην Υπατία.

«Διαπιστώσαμε πως εκείνη η περίοδος της αρχαιότητας είχε πολλά κοινά με το σήμερα. Τότε τα πράγματα έγιναν πολύ ενδιαφέροντα, καθώς καταλάβαμε πως είχαμε τη δυνατότητα να γυρίσουμε μια ταινία για το παρελθόν, ενώ στην πραγματικότητα γυρίζαμε μια ταινία για το παρόν» δήλωσε σχετικά.

Μιλώντας για το ιδιότυπο ερωτικό τρίγωνο που εμφανίζεται στην ταινία (ανάμεσα στην Υπατία, έναν αφοσιωμένο σκλάβο και έναν από τους μαθητές της- το οποίο δεν ευδοκιμεί, καθώς η φιλόσοφος αφιερώνεται στην επιστήμη), η Γουάιζ ανέφερε πως βρήκε έμπνευση στην ίδια την οικογένειά της, μέσω της 85χρονης θείας της- ερευνήτριας πάνω στον καρκίνο.

«Όταν τη ρώτησα γιατί δεν παντρεύτηκε ή δεν έκανε παιδιά, μου απάντησε πως 'ποτέ δεν πίστεψα πως θα υπήρχε άνδρας που θα μου επέτρεπε να εργαστώ όσο σκληρά επιθυμούσα... με το πέρασμα των χρόνων συνειδητοποίησα πως αγαπούσα τη δουλειά μου πιο πολύ από το καθετί, και δεν ήθελα κανέναν να μπει ανάμεσα σε εμένα και αυτήν».

Κατά τον Αμεναμπάρ, αν η Υπατία είναι ουσιαστικά μια ενσάρκωση της σύγχρονης γυναίκας, η ρωμαϊκή αυτοκρατορία εκείνης της περιόδου αποτελεί την ενσάρκωση μιας υπερδύναμης σε κομβικό σημείο: «πιστεύω πως αυτή τη στιγμή οι ΗΠΑ βρίσκονται στην ίδια θέση με τη ρωμαϊκή αυτοκρατορία, καθώς τώρα, περισσότερο από ποτέ άλλοτε, βρισκόμαστε εν μέσω μιας κρίσης, κοινωνικής και οικονομικής. Είναι ώρα για αλλαγή... ξέρουμε πως κινούμαστε προς κάποια διαφορετική κατεύθυνση, αλλά δεν ξέρουμε προς τα πού μας οδηγεί αυτή. Και καθώς είμαι αισιόδοξος εκ φύσεως, θέλω να πιστεύω πως δεν θα μπούμε πάλι σε μία περίοδο αντίστοιχη του Μεσαίωνα».


www.kathimerini.gr

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Gods of the Bible

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Some of the Gods mentioned in the Bible:

Adrammelech     II Kings 17:31   Sepharvite God.
Anammelech II Kings 17:31 Sepharvite God.
Ashima II Kings 17:30 Samaritan Moon Goddess.
Ashtoreth I Kings 11:05 Canaanite Goddess.
Baal I Kings 18:19 Canaanite God ("Lord") of
fertility, vegitation, and storms.
Baal-berith Judges 8:33 A regional variation/aspect of Baal.
Baal-peor Numbers 25:03 Moabite regional variation/aspect of
Baal.
Baal-zebub Luke 11:19 Philistine/Ekronian regional
variation/aspect of Baal.
Baalim I Kings 18:18 Canaanite Gods ("Lords"), a
collective of the different
aspects of Baa.
Bel Isiah 46:01 Assyrian/Babylonian/Sumerian God
("Lord").
Chemosh I Kings 11:07 Moabite war God.
Dagon I Samuel 05:02 Philistine/Ekronian/Babylonian God
of agriculture.
Diana of the
Ephesians
Acts 19:35 Ephesian moon and nature Goddess,
("Divine/Brilliant").
Jehovah Exodus 6:03 Hebrew God
Jupiter Acts 14:12 Roman God (possibly derived from
'Zeus-pater', Father Zeus).
Lucifer Isiah 14:12 ("Light-Bearer")
Mercurius Acts 14:12 Otherwise known as the Roman God
Mercury, God of communication and
travel, and messenger of the
Gods...which is probably why Paul
was called this at Lystra.
Milcom I Kings 11:05 Ammonite God
Molech I Kings 11:07 Ammonite God, also called Moloch,
most probably Baal-Hammon of
Carthage.
Nebo Isiah 46:01 Assyrian/Babylonian/Chaldean God of
wisdom and writing, also called
Nabu.
Nergal II Kings 17:30 Cuth/Assyrian/Babylonian war and
underworld God, also called
Meshlamthea.
Nibhaz II Kings 17:31 Avites God
Nisroch II Kings 19:37 Assyrian God
Rimmon II Kings 05:18 Babylonian/Syrian storm God
involved (as Ramman) with the
Deluge, according to Hebrew texts;
also known as Ramman/Rammon.
Succoth-benoth II Kings 17:30 Babylonian fertility Goddess ("She
Who Produces Seed"), also known as
Zarpanitu/Zerpanitum.
Tammuz Ezekial 8:14 Assyrian/Babylonian God
Tartak II Kings 17:31 Avites God

Please note that I'm not referring to any Deities not mentioned by name (for instance, the golden calf is not here).


By Norbert Sykes

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Friday, April 03, 2009

Italian dig uncovers "oldest" temple in Cyprus

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An Italian archaeologist says she has discovered what is believed to be the oldest site of religious worship in Cyprus, a temple which is about 4,000 years old.

The find at the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site close to the southern city of Limassol predates any other discoveries in Cyprus by about 1,000 years, Italian archaeologist Maria Rosaria Belgiorno said.

"This is the first evidence of religion in Cyprus at the beginning of the second millennium BC," she was quoted as telling the Cyprus Weekly newspaper from Rome.

The Cyprus Antiquities Department said further examination would be required before the find could be verified. "We cannot dismiss the claim but we cannot verify it either," Antiquities Department official Maria Hadjicosti told Reuters.

Belgiorno said she had found the outline of a triangular-shaped temple, comprised of two rooms, on the site. There was a sacrificial altar flanked by a channel on two sides.

"We found no statues, but there is evidence that it is a monotheistic temple," she said. It was probably destroyed in an earthquake and abandoned in 1800 BC.

In ancient religions, triangles typified spiritual gateways or embodied three separate deities.

In the past, the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site has also yielded finds ranging from an ancient perfumery to one of the earliest records of how olive oil was used to fire furnaces.


NICOSIA (Reuters)

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Wednesday, January 07, 2009

The Khanty People

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Khanty / Hanti (obsolete: Ostyaks) are an endangered indigenous people calling themselves Khanti, Khande, Kantek (Khanty), living in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra" in Russia, together with Mansi peoples. In the autonomous okrug, the Khanty and Mansi languages are given co-official status with Russian. In the 2002 Census, 28,678 persons identified themselves as Khanty. Of those, 26,694 were resident in Tyumen Oblast, of which 17,128 were living in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and 8,760—in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. 873 were residents of neighbouring Tomsk Oblast, and 88 lived in the Komi Republic.

(Wikipedia)


Religious Beliefs. The ecology movement illustrates ideological changes for new generations of Khanty struggling to reconcile or adapt ancient beliefs without entirely rejecting their traditions as "primitive." Khanty religion traditionally included reverence for spirit masters of animals, forests, and rivers. The chief intermediaries with such spirits, and with an elaborate hierarchy of gods, were shamans, religious and medical practitioners who often served as sensitive community leaders. Other Khanty could also communicate with the spirits by making appropriate reindeer or horse sacrifices. Sacrifices were performed in sacred groves that served as ecological preserves where no animals could be hunted. Kin groups, whose identities were linked with specific trees, presided over these groves. The groves featured ancestral male and female spirit images, called "idols" by Russians who held them in contempt. One of these grove-based groups was disbanded in the 1960s by Communist party leaders (who had previously thought such groups extinct).

The cosmology of the spirit world was multilayered, including eastern sky gods, earth spirits, and an underworld sometimes associated with the North. Some of the earth spirits were believed to be deceased ancestors, especially shamans. Kin identity was mirrored in spirit organization: each lineage and phratry had "totemic" animal associations. Thus the Por people, linked with the sacred bear, were forbidden to hunt or eat bear except at Por ceremonies. Most people held hares sacred. The binding of kinship with ancestors meant that spirits as well as elders became enforcers of morality and taboos. This idea, plus a belief in reincarnation, is maintained by some Khanty. Aspects of Russian Orthodoxy (Christ as the main sky god, Numi-Torm) are also merged with ancient Turkic concepts (eastern sky gods).


Ceremonies. The translation of beliefs into action became problematic in the Soviet period, when the major ritual leaders—shamans—were persecuted and all religion was discouraged as superstition; a "last" bear ceremony to serve as an initiation was recorded in the 1930s. Secularization of traditional bear ceremonies was reflected in rituals filmed in the 1970s, although many Khanty still consider the bear sacred, with all-seeing powers. In addition to the feasting and dancing that accompany appeals to the bear spirit, there were satirical plays and buffoonery, sometimes mocking Russians. Bear festivals can therefore be seen as "rituals of reversal," and are enjoying a dramatic revival. Sacrificial rituals are performed in sacred groves, but more common are small tokens of respect for spirits, such as coins, flowers, and cloth, left in the groves. Some of the groves are sites for women's worship of female fire and fertility deities. Rituals for major events in the life cycle, such as births and weddings, have declined and sometimes have been supplanted by secular rituals. Yet divination to discover a child's identity as a reincarnated ancestor is still performed very frequently. A major Ob River holiday is the midsummer Day of Fisherman, a time for drinking and carousing.

Arts, Historically, the greatest performances were part of phratry ceremonies, including dramatic masked dancers emerging from the forest and transvestite men imitating bride-capture. Shamanic séances held participants enthralled with drumming, zither playing, dancing, ventriloquism, and sleight-of-hand stunts. Folktale and legend chanting took up many winter nights; some elders still know the chants. Owned lineage songs include geographical and kinship lore that were once part of the education of young men. Women's crafts include intricate appliqué fur designs symbolizing animals and kin affiliations, on clothing and bags. Men's wood and ivory carving is both commercial and religious.

Medicine. Various shamans ministered to ill Khanty, depending on the nature of the illness and the shaman's reputation. Powerful shamans believed capable of trance during séances (elta) to recover lost souls were isyl'ta-ku (men) or isyl'ta-ni (women). Shamans specializing in dream interpretation to diagnose illness, ulom-verta-ni, were often women, whereas "legend-singers," arekhta-ku, were men. Séances featured journeys by shamans or helper spirits to upper and lower cosmological worlds. Helpers ranged from mosquitoes to sacred bears or even Saint Nicholas. Once intense group-oriented cathartic performances of astonishing virtuosity, shamanic séances became private and covert. Western medicine, administered in clinics and hospitals, is chosen for many illness and births. A few shamans are revered and feared by those who believe in the dangers of soul loss and offending ancestral spirits.

Death and Afterlife. Belief in multiple souls (as many as four for women and five for men) means that special precautions must be taken for their well-being during burials and memorial feasts. Whereas one of the souls, lil, can reside in ancestral images and eventually be reincarnated, others may travel skyward or become birds and evil soul-stealing spirits. The Khanty concept of heaven, adapted from Russian Orthodoxy, envisions Khanty spirits living a normal reindeer-breeding existence in one area, with Russians living in another.





World Culture Encyclopedia

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Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Spriggans

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Spriggans is the name given to a family of fairies in Cornish folklore, they are the closely related to the Piskies, but were generally believed to be darker and more dangerous than their mischievous cousins. Whereas Piskies are generally described as being cheerful and fun loving, Spriggans are more spiteful and full of malice, directed at humans in the form of evil tricks.

It was believed that the Spriggans haunted the lonely places such as castle ruins, barrows, certain standing stones and windswept crags. Spriggans were thought to be the source of such misfortunes as blighted crops, bad weather and illness, especially in a time when the mechanics of such things were not fully understood. They were also want to steal small children and replace them with their own kind, a common trait in many of the fairy races of folklore.

In appearance the Spriggans are described as grotesquely ugly with wizened features and crooked skinny bodies. They form part of the fairy bodyguard as described by Bottrell and Hunt, ready to dish out summary justice to those who would harm their otherworldly cousins.

In this defensive respect they could expand from their diminutive stature to giant sized proportions. Some people even believed them to be the ghosts of giants, which were once thought to have roamed Cornwall in the time before time (see Bolster, and Cormoran).

One of their common traits was to lead lonely travellers into swamps or near to dangerous and crumbling cliffs, a factor they share in common with the Will o' the Wisp and the Piskies. Although the Piskies would not lead people to dangerous places.



by Daniel Parkinson


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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Cremation now allowed in Greece - Approval gathers pace

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The approval of the law allowing cremation in Greece paves the way for the first incineration facilities to be built within two years


THEY may need to hold their breath for another couple of years before the first facilities are built, but many wanting to be cremated upon death will at last be able to have their final wish carried out in this country after the Council of State approved a bill allowing cremation for those whose religion permits it.

After a long campaign by community groups (mostly Muslim, Buddhist and Protestant) and humanitarian activists, the legislation allowing cremation in Greece was passed in March 2006. As a presidential decree, though, it required the approval of the country's highest administrative court to become law.

That approval came on September 25 of this year. However, as explained by Antonis Alakiotis, the president of the Committee for the Right for Cremation in Greece (CRCG), a common ministerial decision now needs to be drafted by the interior, health and environment ministries before the first incineration facilities can be built - something that he expects will take up to a year-and-a-half.

For all that, though, Alakiotis treats the Council of State's recent decision as a significant step forward in the decade-long fight.

"Most importantly, they accepted it," he told this newspaper. "Of course, we wish that it had all happened more quickly, but we have to remember where we live."

He added that this does not change the Greek Church's position of forbidding cremation for its followers.

According to the law (3448/2006), families will be able to obtain a municipal permit to cremate their dead 60 hours after the death of their relative, as long as their religion allows it.

Unless written instructions requesting cremation have been left, the relatives (up to the fourth degree) can apply for the permit. In instances where there is a difference of opinion between relatives, a local magistrate will be asked to decide.

In addition to this, the Council of State requested that the common ministerial decision make provision for others to intervene when relatives seek a traditional burial despite there being proof that the deceased had requested cremation.

It also said that it should be illegal for the urn containing the ashes to be traded, avoiding the possibility of famous people's ashes being sold.

According to Alakiotis, the ministerial decision will now specify where and how such facilities will be built. Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis has already identified the city's First Cemetery as the likely location of the country's crematorium.

Commenting on the approval of the presidential decree, Thanasis Kafezas, of the municipality's Cemeteries Department, said: "We find ourselves one step away from the establishment of cremation facilities. In around one-and-a-half years, after the environment and public works ministry has determined the last laws, the City of Athens will have its first crematorium."

Vote for rites

Cremation is becoming increasingly accepted within this country, with up to 500 Greek Orthodox Christians opting for the practice despite the psychological trauma and costs associated with travelling abroad, mostly to Bulgaria and Germany.

Famously, Maria Callas was cremated in Paris and had her ashes scattered in the Aegean and, last year, renowned winemaker Yiannis Boutaris carried out his wife Athina's last wish to be cremated - an experience which, he said, left him feeling that the Church had treated his wife as if she had committed suicide.

After taking his wife's body to Bulgaria for the cremation, Boutaris struggled to find a Greek priest to carry out Orthodox burial rites and a blessing in this country, eventually finding one in Nymphaio (a village in northern Greece) who would "take the risk".

The hope for many Greeks is that the existence of a crematorium will soften the Church's to now staunch position against the practice for its followers.

Cremation is common in all other predominantly Orthodox countries.

"I am positive," Alakiotis said. "The position of the late archbishop [of Athens and all Greece] Christodoulos and the current Archbishop Ieronymos is encouraging. It is, however, a matter for the Holy Synod [the Church's executive committee]."

Commenting on the recently approved law, Ieronymos said: "It is respected, as are all legal decisions."

"The Holy Synod knows that its churches abroad have for some time offered burial rites for those who opt for cremation," Alakiotis said. "Furthermore, it is becoming more and more common for families to stop payments for the boxes in which bones from exhumed bodies [as is traditional in this country after three years of burial] are kept. Instead, the bones are often put in a big hole and turned into ash in a chemical way. What is the difference between this and cremation?"

Cremation, he added, is the only realistic way to overcome the problem of overcrowded cemeteries.




Thrasy Petropoulos, for Athens News.

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Saturday, July 19, 2008

'Anastenaria', The Ancient Ecstatic Fire-Walking Ritual of Greece

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The Anastenaria is a traditional ritual of fire walking which dates back to pagan times. Barefoot villagers of Ayia Eleni near Serres, and of Langada near Thessaloniki, and other places, annually walk over hot coals. As there are variations in the ritual from place to place, the following description is largely based upon the performance of the festival as celebrated at Ayia Eleni, the most authoritative Anastenarian community, and the illustrations are from the ritual at Langada.

The communities which celebrate the Anastenaria are descendants of refugees from Eastern Thrace who arrived in Greece following the migrations necessitated by the Balkan Wars and by the later exchange of populations in 1923. Each village community of Anastenarides is headed by a “group of twelve” of which the large majority are women. They gather in a special building, or in the room of a house set aside for the purpose, called a konaki. Here on an icon shelf are kept the special icons of SS Constantine and Helen which are the most precious possessions of the community. Each has a handle so that it can conveniently be carried in processions and dances, is hung with small bells, decorated with “sacred knots” made from kerchiefs, and is covered with specially made cloth envelopes. Draped over the icons and the shelf are large red kerchiefs called simadia, which are believed to possess in themselves the power of the icons. On a table nearby offerings of oil, incense and lighted candles are kept.

On the eve of the feast of Saints Constantine and Helen (May 20th) the Anastenarides gather in the konaki, where the participants dance and sing to the music of the Thracian lyra, and a large drum. After some time, the dancing generates extreme emotional and ecstatic phenomena in the devotees, particularly in those dancing for the first time. This manifests itself in the form of violent trembling, repeated rocking backwards and forwards, and writhing. The archanastenaris hands out icons from the shelf to some of the dancers. The Anastenarides believe that during the dance they are “seized” by the saint, and enter a state of trance.

On the morning of the saints’ day (May 21st) the Anastenarides gather at the konaki before leaving together in procession, accompanied by musicians and candle bearers to a holy well, where they are blessed by the holy water. Next, they sacrifice one or several animals to the saints. In Ayia Eleni, the animal must be over one year old, and of an odd number of years of age, the most acceptable being seven. The beast must also be unmarked and it must not have been castrated. It is incensed, and then led up to a shallow pit excavated in a place previously indicated by the Archanastenaris in a trance, usually beside the roots of a tree or at the agiasma. At one side of the shallow pit candles are lighted, while, on the other stand pots of holy water and the sacrificial animal. The beast is turned upside down, with its head tilted upwards, at the edge of the pit. Its throat is cut in such a way as to allow its blood to soak into the earth. The carcass is hung and skinned to the sound of music, and the raw flesh and hide cut up into equal parts put into baskets and distributed, amongst the families of the village in a procession from house to house.

After lunch the Anastenarides gather again and resume their dancing. A candle is lit from one of the oil lamps in front of the icons, and given to a man who takes it to an open space in the village, where a cone-shaped pile of logs has been prepared. There a bonfire is lit. As the wood burns, men spread out the coals with long poles until they form a large oval bed. When the Anastenarides are informed that the fire is ready, they approach the place barefoot in procession, bearing their icons and simadia.

Initially the Anastenarides dance barefoot around the hot ashes, but when the saint moves them, individuals run backwards and forwards across the burning coals, some bearing aloft the icons. Sometimes devotees kneel down beside the fire and pound the ashes with the palms of their hands in order to demonstrate their power over the fire. The Anastenarides continue dancing over the coals until the ashes are cool, then they return to the konaki and enjoy a common meal, with music and singing. During the next two days, they process around the village visiting each house, taking care to do so always by moving in a counter-clockwise direction. On May 23rd they conclude with a second dance over the fire, this time privately.

The refugees say that in their original home, in Kosti, now in eastern Bulgaria, the ancient ceremonies were performed in full. With the outbreak of the Balkan war of 1912, the Greeks of Kosti were forced out of their village with their icons by the Bulgarians. They travelled by steamer to Constantinople, from there they were moved on Thessaloniki, finally settling in rural Macedonia. For more than twenty years they celebrated the Anastenaria only in secret, before being persuaded to perform in public in 1947. This provoked hostile response from the Church, but ecclesiastical disapproval has been counterbalanced by the active support of folklore societies, local government officials and government ministries.

According to the story told by the refugees, the origin of the Anastenaria lies in a fire which took place at Kosti in the dancing on the hot coalsthirteenth century. One night the church of Saint Constantine caught fire, and as it burned the people heard cries coming from the flames. It was the icons calling out for aid. Some villagers ran into the building and rescued them, neither the icons not their saviours being burned. Since that time, the Anastenaria has been held to celebrate their delivery. This is similar to the many stories invented to “explain” customs of unknown origin which are found across Greece. In the nineteenth century, the Byzantine scholar Anna Chatzinikolaou was able to show that the icons of the saints, today considered so important to the group, did not exist before 1833, and that all had at that time been recently repainted. There was evidence that the earliest icons depicted the red-robed Saint Helena “as if she were dancing”; clearly a serious embarrassment to a group under threat of religious persecution.

Among scholars the origins of the Anastenaria, as opposed to what the cult has become today, are a matter of considerable dispute. Although there is no evidence in ancient literature of fire-walking rituals associated with the god Dionysos, most scholars connect the Anastenaria with the widespread cult of that divinity. This association was also made by the Church authorities when they condemned the practices of the cult. Folklore scholar George A. Megas observes that “the cradle of Dionysiac worship was precisely in the Haemus area where the Anastenaria are danced today, passed down by the Greeks to the neighboring Bulgarian villages.” This latter point is made clear by the fact that the prayers used by the Bulgarian Anastenarides are recited in Greek, and that the transmission of the rites from Greeks to Bulgarian settlers in the area is a matter of historical record. Moreover, the evidence of mid-winter and carnival customs is that much that was associated with the Dionysian cult has survived throughout northern and central Greece. Katerina Kakouri has established a close connection between these customs and the Anastenaria in Ayia Eleni.

Megas has also pointed out that the state of frenzy among worshippers, observed among the Anastenarides, was characteristic of the cult of this god, whose Maenads, or female worshippers, “rushed in a frenzy over the mountains at night, lighted by torches and goaded on by the wild music of deep-throated flutes and thunddancing on the hot coalsering drums.” Certainly some observers have noted in the dance of the Anastenarides over the hot ashes, with their trance-like faces and outstretched arms, the modern successors of the infamous ancient Maenads of Dionysos, the God-intoxicated women who might, in their trance-like state, tear apart any animal they came across in their frenzied nocturnal roamings over the mountains. Of crucial importance in this context is the evidence that the modern Anastenarides may, in their frenzy, run away with the icons for a period “into the mountains”, and that this is expected as an integral part of the sacred ritual. In the last century A. Chourmouziades described how “now beside themselves, [they] run and speed like birds up the hills and into the woods and up escarpments.” D. Petropoulos observed as recently as the 1930s that “when the dance was at its height, many folk broke away in their joy and ran up towards the mountains.” This certainly recalls the frenzy of the Maenads, who roamed the mountains while out of their minds.

It would appear that in the practices of these settlers from Eastern Thrace may be found one of the most distinctive living survivals, under a very thin Christian guise, of an important part of the ancient religion of much of rural classical Greece.



by John L. Tomkinson, from 'Festive Greece: A Calendar of Tradition'.

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