Rites of Passage as Indexes of Ethnicity: The Wedding Rituals of the. Today, the rituals of the Anastenaria are performed in five villages of Northern Greece: Ayia Eleni (Serres), Langadas (Thessaloniki), Melike (Imathia), Mavrolefke (Drama), and Kerkini (Serres). 129, Bishop, Charles A, The emergence of the northern Ojibwa: social and economic.
The ritual is also performed in January, during the festival of Saint Athanasius, and fire-walking is done indoors. After dancing around it in a circle, individual anastenarides dance over the hot coals as the saint moves them. Select from premium Anastenaria Ritual In Greece of the highest quality. In the evening a fire is lit in an open space, and after dancing for some time in the konaki, the "anastenarides" go to it carrying their ikons. Find Anastenaria Ritual In Greece stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. The rules about the nature of the beasts to be slain are precise, but differ from village to village. On the morning of the Saints' day, May 21, the gather at the konaki and proceed to a well to be blessed with holy water, and sacrifice animals. After some time they believe that they may be "seized" by Saint Constantine and enter a trance. Here, on the Eve of the saints’ day, May 20 Saint Constantine and Saint Helen, they gather to dance to the music of the Thracian lyre and drum. The festival culminates with a fire-walking ritual, where the participants, carrying the icons of saints Constantine and Helen, dance ecstatically for hours before entering the fire and walking barefoot over the glowing-red coals, unharmed by the fire.Įach community of the Anastenaria has a special shrine known as the konaki, where their holy icons are placed, as well as the “signs” of the saints, votive offerings and red kerchiefs attached to the icons.
Each of the festivals lasts for 3 days and involves various processions, music and dancing, and an animal sacrifice. The two major events in this cycle are two big festivals, one in January and particularly one in May 21, dedicated to these two saints. The central figures of the tradition are Saint Constantine and Saint Helen, but all the significant days in this cycle coincide with important days in the Greek Orthodox calendar and are related to various Christian saints. The communities which celebrate this ritual are descended from refugees who entered Greece from Eastern Thrace following the exchange of populations in 1923. The “Anastenaria” is a traditional fire-walking ritual performed in some villages in Northern Greece.
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