Celebrations!

 March is a busy month this year! We’ve just celebrated Tsiknopempti (Smelly Thursday) where mouth-watering smells of roasting meat on outside spits mark the last meat-eating day before Orthodox Lent begins. 

 Last week we celebrated Clean Monday,  the beginning of the 40-day Orthodox Fast. Though religious festivals, essentially both entail sitting with family and friends round a groaning board, one full of a variety of meats, the other of seafood, vegetables and pulses.                                               

But next week we will have a very special celebration. 25^th March is always observed as the day Greece gained her independence from the Ottoman Empire. And, of course, there is food associated with that day: cod fried in batter. Most houses will proudly bear the national flag on their flagstaff.  But this year is the Bicentennial and, though Covid-19 restrictions will undoubtedly put a damper on things, there WILL be a celebration. The lady in charge of the organizing Greece 2021 Committee, Gianna Daskalaki, trained lawyer, and former MP, was also President of the 2004 Olympic Games committee. That event was undeniably a huge success so we are expecting great things from her once more.

Here she is at one of the celebratory events recently. She is well known for her impeccable dress-sense, as demonstrated by her outfit of a traditional-style waist coat and sash, but it was her handbag, specially designed for the Bicentennial celebrations, which had Greece all a-Twitter. It was a limited-edition piece, in the style of a purse which was clearly inspired by the foustanella, or kilted skirt, worn by the national guard. I love her style!

                                              

 For those of us who had to mug up on Greek culture and history as part of our naturalization process, the struggle for independence is a topic we are fairly familiar with. During the 400 years of Turkish occupation, the Greek language and culture still obtained, but there were always little pockets of resistance against the occupying force. There were, within and outside the country, sympathetic groups and secret organizations – some inspired by the French Revolution – who supported such resistance in a variety of ways. The real concerted effort, however, began in 1821 in the Peloponnese. This wave of resistance, powered by politicians, military personnel, clerics and ordinary Greeks, spread throughout the mainland. Despite a series of defeats, the Greek forces continued to fight bravely. As they gained ground, they went so far as to draw up a constitution and vote in a government, yet the Great Powers refused to acknowledge it since it was revolutionary in nature.

The odds were really stacked against the establishment of the Hellenic state, especially when the forces of the Turkish Sultan, Mahmud II, were supported by those of the Egyptian Leader, Mehmet Ali, and his nephew, Ibrahim. However, when the Western forces decided to come to the assistance of the Greeks, they sent a united fleet to join the Greek fleet, defeating the Turko-Egyptian forces and ending the war in the Peloponnese at the decisive Battle of Navarinou  in October 1827. The European powers, especially Britain, decided to give their support to a free, independent Hellenic state as provided by the Treaty of London on 3^rd February 1830, ratified by Britain, France and the Russian Empire. Ioannis Kapodistrias a diplomat, became its first Governor, with its capital at Nauplion.

                                                     

 It is a very sobering thought that back then, the Greek borders extended only to about Arta-Lamia, in Central Greece, and did not contain many of its islands. In 1912-1913, the land area doubled, but it was not until 1947, when the Treaty of Paris allowed for the transfer of the Dodecanese islands from Italy, that the Greek borders came to constitute Greece as we know it today. In addition since she gained her independence, she has known much turmoil: she endured WW1 then the Nazi Occupation from 1941-1944, she suffered internal unrest during the Civil War form December 1944 to October 1949,she bore the hardships of the military dictatorship from 1967 to 1974.

I mention these facts not to detract from the celebrations but to acknowledge that this state is a relatively young one who has encountered much in her short life.                                    

She has every reason to celebrate her hard-earned independent identity. Below we see the symbol of the Bicentennial – 200 years after the Uprising, Greece 2021.Special guests at the celebrations are: Mikhail Mishustin, Russian Prime Minister, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, as well as our very own Prince Charles and Camilla. They represent the Western Powers who helped Greece gain her free status.

 I am looking forward to the events and our flag will definitely be unfurled for the occasion!

March, the Martis and the Eleusinian Mysteries.

 We’ve just welcomed in March and the traditional greeting in any new month is ‘Kalo mina’ - ‘May you have a good month’.  Folklore says if March comes in like a lion, she will go out like a lamb …. and vice-versa!

 In Greek there is a saying: Martis, gdhartis kai kaloupokaftis literally translated as ‘March the skin flayer and fence-post burner’. This makes reference to the unpredictable weather: the hot sun can burn your skin, yet the cold can force you to burn the fence stobs when fuel is used up at winter’s end.

It is a month of hope – and good cheer, we all need that! We look forward to longer, milder days, trees in blossom, the equinox will happen shortly and spring proper is not far away.                                                 

For this month in Greece people traditionally wear the marti: a simple bracelet made of woven red and white threads. This tradition is said to date back to the Eleusinian Mysteries, or secret rites, which took place annually at Eleusini, situated between Athens and the Peloponnese.  The rites performed there are in three phases and reenact the abduction, the search for and the return of Persephone. 

                                                       

 Persephone the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility, had the delightful task of painting all the flowers of the earth, thus she can be said to personify spring.

According to the myth, before completing her task, she was abducted by Hades, the god of the Underworld. The distressed Demeter caused a dreadful drought and, to ease the suffering of gods and men alike, Zeus intervened and allowed Penelope to return to her mother.

 There was, however, a rule in the Underworld, that whoever ate or drank there was doomed to stay forever. Since Hades had tricked Persephone into eating 4-6 pomegranate seeds, her penalty was to return to the Underworld for 4 to 6 months every year. During her daughter’s annual absence, Demeter neglected her duties of cultivation.

It is interesting to see how inclusive these events were since women and slaves were allowed to attend. There were two requirements that allowed attendance:

1) being free from ‘blood guilt’ i.e. not having committed murder……. and

2) not being a ‘barbarian’ i.e. being able to speak Greek !!

 During initiation ceremonies, participants, who were obliged to swear an oath of secrecy, wore red thread called the kroki tied round their right wrists and left ankles. And this is what we continue when we wear the Marti.                                      

 It is a tradition that has spread and the bracelet is now worn in other Balkan countries, though its significance and related practices may vary a little. In North Macedonia it is called the martinka, Albanians refer to the verore, while Bulgarians wear the martenitsa.

Jewellers, of course, offer more up-market pieces of adornment, which may be made of gold or silver, and have precious stones – often the blue-eye talisman - woven into the design.

                                                         

Traditionally, however, this is a very simple bracelet made of hand-woven red and white strands which may have little trinkets threaded onto them. The red and white threads are said to represent health and fertility, strength and purity, respectively. The martis was believed to confer health, good luck and protection in general on the wearer. It was even said to protect from the strengthening sun rays and prevent sunburn. 

                                              
Some wear it till it disintegrates, some take it off at the end of the month, while others do so only once they have seen the first swallow of the season. Then it may be hung on a branch of a tree in the hope the swallow might use it to build her nest.

So there we have it: a beautiful tale designed as an explanation of our seasonal changes.     And a tradition that we share with Greek culture from days long gone to the present time.

 Kalo mas mina – may the month be kind to us!