The Anastenaria firewalking ceremony Monday night was absolutely amazing. Once again, my camera died before the actual fire-walking began, so you'll have to wait until I can steal some pictues. We went to the town of Langadas, only about 12 km from Thessaloniki, to watch the last of the three nights. It was actually pretty suprising--I was picturing a tiny, rural, folksy village but it seemed pretty normal, like any other Greek town. The konaki--the place where the ceremony takes place--was right in the middle of a bunch of apartment buildings.
We got there a little early and watched them prepare. The danced a shuffly, penguin-like dance in the konaki while holding icons or red cloths that symbolized their empowerment by the saints. The room was hot, full of smoke and incense as they danced in a trace to the music. We split up the group a little bit so as not to intrude on so large a scale. After a little while we went and grabbed a frappe (of course) with the class while we waited for the fire-walking to begin, and got back in time to position ourselves where we could view it best. As the fire died down some men spread the coals around and the Anastenaria came out.
The walked in circles around the coals for a while and then the leader hopped on. It was incredible to watch, as these people did their penguin-shuffle across the coals. The whole point of the festival is that they believe they are called to walk across the coals by the saints and that Saint Constantine will protect them from harm if they do so. Watching them dance, you could feel their faith as a tangible element in the air. It was an incredibly powerful experience. At one point, they brought out this little boy who had leg braces on and looked just like one of my ELEPAP kids. One man carried him as he danced across the coals and the others formed a group around him, dancing and shuffling and praying for his healing. At this point I nearly cried; it was incredibly overwhelming, and their belief was so strong that in that moment you couldn't help but believe it a little too.
One of the younger Anastenaria girls, about my age, had her shoes on and wasn't going to dance but was so moved that she kicked off her shoes and the leaders of the dance held on to her and lead her through the coals. That was also a really interesting thing to see, just as a way to reinforce the group power dynamics. There were people of all ages and genders dancing--middle-aged mothers, old men, young people, ancient yia yias--but you could definitely tell there were specific roles and definite leaders of the ritual. The dancing didn't actually last very long, but it was still an incredibly powerful, moving experience that I was glad to witness. I almost didn't go becuase I was so exhuasted from the Mykonos trip; good thing I did!
Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day--at least 85 degrees, sunny, no clouds. The bus was hell; it was so hot! After class I took the bus down to Navarinou Square and then walked back along the Paralia. It was great because it was super windy by the water so even though it was a thousand degrees, it wasn't too bad. And the water, usually kind of dirty and nasty-looking, was a beautiful shade of teal.
Last night I meant to go to bed early since I had to get up this morning for ELEPAP but I ended up staying up until about four. Katie, Kelli, Abby, Boosa, Mike and I grabbed a beer or two and sat by the water, feet dangling over the edge, just talking. (For two in the morning, there were a suprising number of people still out on the boardwalk--we even saw a pair of guys out for a run!) I was tired but didn't want to leave--it was just nice and chill, and I'm running out of time to talk to these people! I figured I could sacrifice a little sleep in exchange for the friendships and the memories--I'm going to miss everyone so much, when I can't just pop downstairs whenever I want....these last two weeks are going to be tough.
This morning I had my last day at ELEPAP. It was really bittersweet; I don't know if the kids know I'm not coming back, and they were so excited to see me! All the little girls hung over me all day, holding my hands and sitting in my lap. One little boy told me I was as pretty as Kostantina, the little girl in the class he's in love with--adorable! The are all such sweet, lovely little angels, and I'm going to miss my Wednesday mornings with them. Asimi, the guy who runs the classroom I helped out in, is actually studying to teach Greek as a foriegn language and gave me a list of a bunch of helpful websites before I left. I'm going to check those out and hopfully use them to keep up with my Greek once I'm home.
That's about all for now. I'm writing this from school, waiting for classes to begin. For two of my classes, it's the last time we meet before finals. Everything is winding down so quickly! I promise pictures of the Anastenaria and of the Mykonos trip as soon as I can grab some; sorry to make you wait!
We got there a little early and watched them prepare. The danced a shuffly, penguin-like dance in the konaki while holding icons or red cloths that symbolized their empowerment by the saints. The room was hot, full of smoke and incense as they danced in a trace to the music. We split up the group a little bit so as not to intrude on so large a scale. After a little while we went and grabbed a frappe (of course) with the class while we waited for the fire-walking to begin, and got back in time to position ourselves where we could view it best. As the fire died down some men spread the coals around and the Anastenaria came out.
The walked in circles around the coals for a while and then the leader hopped on. It was incredible to watch, as these people did their penguin-shuffle across the coals. The whole point of the festival is that they believe they are called to walk across the coals by the saints and that Saint Constantine will protect them from harm if they do so. Watching them dance, you could feel their faith as a tangible element in the air. It was an incredibly powerful experience. At one point, they brought out this little boy who had leg braces on and looked just like one of my ELEPAP kids. One man carried him as he danced across the coals and the others formed a group around him, dancing and shuffling and praying for his healing. At this point I nearly cried; it was incredibly overwhelming, and their belief was so strong that in that moment you couldn't help but believe it a little too.
One of the younger Anastenaria girls, about my age, had her shoes on and wasn't going to dance but was so moved that she kicked off her shoes and the leaders of the dance held on to her and lead her through the coals. That was also a really interesting thing to see, just as a way to reinforce the group power dynamics. There were people of all ages and genders dancing--middle-aged mothers, old men, young people, ancient yia yias--but you could definitely tell there were specific roles and definite leaders of the ritual. The dancing didn't actually last very long, but it was still an incredibly powerful, moving experience that I was glad to witness. I almost didn't go becuase I was so exhuasted from the Mykonos trip; good thing I did!
Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day--at least 85 degrees, sunny, no clouds. The bus was hell; it was so hot! After class I took the bus down to Navarinou Square and then walked back along the Paralia. It was great because it was super windy by the water so even though it was a thousand degrees, it wasn't too bad. And the water, usually kind of dirty and nasty-looking, was a beautiful shade of teal.
Last night I meant to go to bed early since I had to get up this morning for ELEPAP but I ended up staying up until about four. Katie, Kelli, Abby, Boosa, Mike and I grabbed a beer or two and sat by the water, feet dangling over the edge, just talking. (For two in the morning, there were a suprising number of people still out on the boardwalk--we even saw a pair of guys out for a run!) I was tired but didn't want to leave--it was just nice and chill, and I'm running out of time to talk to these people! I figured I could sacrifice a little sleep in exchange for the friendships and the memories--I'm going to miss everyone so much, when I can't just pop downstairs whenever I want....these last two weeks are going to be tough.
This morning I had my last day at ELEPAP. It was really bittersweet; I don't know if the kids know I'm not coming back, and they were so excited to see me! All the little girls hung over me all day, holding my hands and sitting in my lap. One little boy told me I was as pretty as Kostantina, the little girl in the class he's in love with--adorable! The are all such sweet, lovely little angels, and I'm going to miss my Wednesday mornings with them. Asimi, the guy who runs the classroom I helped out in, is actually studying to teach Greek as a foriegn language and gave me a list of a bunch of helpful websites before I left. I'm going to check those out and hopfully use them to keep up with my Greek once I'm home.
That's about all for now. I'm writing this from school, waiting for classes to begin. For two of my classes, it's the last time we meet before finals. Everything is winding down so quickly! I promise pictures of the Anastenaria and of the Mykonos trip as soon as I can grab some; sorry to make you wait!
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