Traveling Classroom Foundation
Thursday June 8th 2023

‘Folk Life’ Archives

Windy Island — Day 1: Tradition

Windy Island — Day 1: Tradition

Traveling with Cretan friends, we boarded a ferry at the port of Iraklion bound for Karpathos — an island at the eastern corner of the Cretan Sea. After a boring eight-hour voyage, we finally drew near the island. Our impression was of a rugged mountain range thrust up from the sea (which it is), but [Read More]

Shadow Theater

Shadow Theater

Brightly colored posters went up last week announcing the “shadow theater” was coming to our village. Long before movies and television, Greece had a different form of entertainment based on folklore traditions and social satire. Known as Karagiozis (the main character’s name), it involved paper-made puppets operated by a puppeteer behind a white screen (perhaps [Read More]

Olive Harvest

Olive Harvest

When the last tourists return to northern lands in autumn, Cretan interests swiftly turn to the olive harvest. Workers at the olive mill in Koutouloufari prepare for a flood of local olives. Not far away, near our home in Ano Hersonissos, growers inspect their crops for maturity. We had several rainfalls, but many olives were [Read More]

Festival

Festival

On the Greek Orthodox calendar, this day marks ‘The Assumption’ – when the devout believe Mary (the mother of Jesus) was taken to heaven. It is one of the major religious festivals in Greece, as many thousands of people attend religious services and celebrations. Mary is a holy figure for Greeks, not only as the [Read More]

Ghosts of Warriors

Ghosts of Warriors

It is a long drive, past Rethimno and then to the southern coast. We stop for a rest in the village of Vrisses, where large plane trees offer cool shade. The village is quiet today. We consider sampling their famous yoghurt with local honey, but we settle for an ice-cold frappe and then get back [Read More]

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Warrior Monks of Crete

Warrior Monks of Crete

A road trip with friends took us to the south coast of Crete and a monastery famous for much more than religious [Read More]

Creativity and the Stone House

Creativity and the Stone House

What is creativity? It is the act of turning a unique idea into something we can see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. We [Read More]

Windy Island — Day 1: Tradition

Windy Island — Day 1: Tradition

Traveling with Cretan friends, we boarded a ferry at the port of Iraklion bound for Karpathos — an island at the [Read More]

Windy Island — Day 2: History

Windy Island — Day 2: History

On our second day, we looked forward to exploring towns in the southern part of Karpathos.  All of these are very old, [Read More]

Windy Island — Day 3: Here and Now

Windy Island — Day 3: Here and Now

Shortly after breakfast, we walked up the street to an old stone well to meet our bus.  Pigadia is known for its wells [Read More]

El Greco: Old Becomes New

El Greco: Old Becomes New

Driving west of Iraklion on the E75 highway, we turned southward toward Fodele (pronounced Foe-deh-lay). The road runs [Read More]

Shadow Theater

Shadow Theater

Brightly colored posters went up last week announcing the “shadow theater” was coming to our village. Long before [Read More]

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