‘Folk Life’ Archives
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
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
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
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
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]
