Funerals and Farewells

 Today’s post relates to what has been happening around us recently. – and it’s a bit macabre.  As the title says: farewells and funerals.  

Two weeks ago, two cousins of Z’s left us. One had been suffering from a long-term degenerative condition, so his passing ultimately offered relief. The second was a heavy smoker with a heart condition and, though relatively young, Covid did for him.

Two weekends ago, as we waited for guests to arrive for dinner, we were surprised to see the headlights of one guest’s car approach our house, stop, then go into reverse. At that very moment he had word his mother was dying!

On the Monday there was wide coverage of the ex-King of Greece’s funeral in Attica. Probably as a political move (upcoming general elections) he was not afforded a state funeral. Perhaps this was no bad thing as it avoided negative responses from some who remain avid anti-royalists after all these years.  (A referendum abolished the monarchy in 1974.) So, the family were able to lay him to rest privately and with dignity.

On the Tuesday we attended the funeral of our friend’s mother in the nearby area of Kallamaria. Below is a picture of a funeral service in although in most cases the casket is open for most of the service.  I’ve already written about the Greek funeral format but this one left two deep impressions on me: 

                                            

 Firstly, as the priest was chanting hymns appropriate to this particular liturgical service, three male cantors, or chanters, provided the ison, music which is composed of drone notes or a slow-moving part to accompany the hymnal melody. Without being intrusive, it provides continuum while the priest pauses in his chant, and adds depth and harmony to the overall effect. Drone and chanter - reminds me of the bagpipes!

Although spiritual people, nether Z nor I adhere to the church established. In fact, we would subscribe more to the George Carlin school of thought! 

                             

 

However, I have found the Gregorian chants immensely comforting as I did then, providing a sense of communion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avy2OdfKt6A

The above link should hopefully provide samples of Orthodox chants, while the one below gives beautiful examples of drone music sounding like instrumental backing.

file:///C:/Users/user/Pictures/watch.htm#:~:text=Ancient%20Orthodox%20Greek%20Chanting%20%2D%20Monks%20choir%20for%20Medieval%20songs%20mittelaltermusik

The second take-away for me, as a part of this small family group, was the sense of  enormity of the event we found ourselves in. The service was held is a small, unassuming church which was very much a part of the immediate area.

                                  

Dedicated to Saint Paul, it was full of icons of all the saints held dear by the faithful. It was only while admiring this amazing, highly stylized and challenging art form, that I realized that the Greek word Panagia – used to refer to the Holy Mother – literally means All Holy.

                                                                           

And it struck me that, as we were there to honour this departing soul, we were experiencing sounds and sights dating back to the Byzantine era from the 5^th to the 15^th centuries - that’s perhaps the closest we come to the eternal. In contrast to that I was aware that we were as ephemeral as the candle flames flickering all around.                                              

That we could suddenly be snuffed out or gradually decay as the petals of the floral tributes we had brought with us.                                             

 At New Year, one of our resolutions is often to have a massive clear-out at home.

Bearing our immortality in mind, let’s set our houses in order. 😊

Epiphany or Ta Fota.

 With the celebration of Epiphany or The Lights (Ta Fota), the festive season comes to an end on Twelfth Night. It is also the time to take down all the Christmas decorations.

We spent the day in the seaside resort of Makrygialos, Pieria. As you can see in the picture below, a lot of people turned out to attend the ceremony and on such a beautiful day where temperatures were around 16oC.                                              

The priest conducts the liturgy while the boatman, the caged doves and even a dog who has paddled out to the boat, are all waiting for the marine part of the ceremony to begin.                                                      

What is being celebrated is the revelation of God incarnate, Jesus being identified as the Son of God. According to the gospels of Matthew 3:16 and Luke 3:22, ‘ ..and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove..’ So our three white birds are there to symbolise the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

                                                  

January 6^th also celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, while Western Christians also identify this as the Adoration of the Magi, the day the three kings came bearing gifts.   

This Orthodox ceremony is a traditional one, but today we have a drone overseeing the procedure – the Fota goes hi-tech!

                 

Below we can see the priest throwing the wooden cross into the ocean - said to symbolize the act of baptism and the cleansing of the waters.                                              

I’m quite proud of this shot - you can see the swimmers compete to catch the cross but you can also see one of the doves fly off to freedom!                                               

It’s particularly nice to see young people follow the tradition and dignify the event by proudly wearing their national costume – in this case, the dress of the Pontioi, Pontic Greeks who colonized the area around the Black Sea.                                              

But the last word we leave to the priest, the local archimandrdrites, a celibate priest whose rank is one below that of a bishop. Here this senior priest-monk, in his finery, holds the blessed cross and the icon before the faithful to kiss.