This is from the summer but I always only found short videos this is a little longer (still not the whole song). Marina Satti performing in the Suppliants of Aescylus in the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.
Not wanting to sound like a 19th century racial anthropologist lol, but is the greek nose that common among greeks ? Most greeks i know have big noses, so do i have just a shitty sample or was the greek nose named greek for some strange reasons ?
Asked by Anonymous
You do sound a bit like that hahaha
No, there’s just a series of misconceptions you are making here.
The “Greek nose” is not a Greek-born concept. It was the Western Europeans who started speaking of a “Greek nose” stereotype by observing ancient Greek statues.
The Greek nose has nothing to do with size. The Greek nose refers to the straight nose, the nose that has no upturned or downturned tilt. It can be massive, so to speak, as long as it’s straight.
Many ancient Greek statues have a characteristic nose that also has a straight bridge, a bridge that seems to be completely aligned with the forehead, without any bump at all or any upwards inclination. This was an artistic choice, it seemed to be some sort of beauty ideal to them, which means it could perhaps have existed but it was rare. In our times, such a feature kind of exists but is indeed quite rare, not just amongst Greeks, but amongst human phenotypes in general.
The way you can tell this was a beauty ideal and not a common reality is that this straight bridged nose is in most statues depicting gods or idealised conceptions of youth (like kouros and kore) yet hardly in statues of actual Greek mortals that truly existed. And I think one of the biggest flaws in the comparisons foreign people are so keen in trying to do between ancient Greeks and modern Greeks is that they compare modern Greeks to ancient Greek gods and not ancient Greek mortals…!
Judging by living amongst modern Greeks and by looking at statues of ancient Greek mortals, I will say that both groups seem to have had pretty diverse noses, maybe with a tendency towards a medium or a moderately large size and, indeed, a straight shape. That’s not to say that there aren’t numerous Greeks with tiny noses, delicate noses, upturned noses, very large noses, hooked noses, bumpy noses, downturned noses, round noses, wide noses.
I will say however that the most standard or super common characteristics you will see in a Greek’s nose is to be pretty defined, on the pointier rather than the rounder side, and again mostly straight, usually medium to moderately large, and more often with narrow nostrils, without that meaning that all the “less common” traits are not totally present in the population as well. A prime example being Socrates in fact, who had a very uncharacteristic nose for a Greek, but he was in fact an Ancient Greek native Athenian. The rarest traits in Greek noses are a nose being too short or too rounded or too wide. Socrates had all that.
But I am a little confused by you sort of suggesting that modern Greeks have large noses “as opposed to ancient Greek statues” because to my eyes ancient Greek statues - both of mortals and even idealised ones - tend to have prominent noses, maybe more often on the large rather than the small side. A small nose is actually kind of rare in Greek statues, no?
Here are some examples of statues of Ancient Greeks who actually existed:
…You know? The smallest nose here is medium. And there is a lot of diversity in shapes.
(Obviously realistic looking mortal female statues are harder to find in a quick search, so I just went for famous Ancient Greek men. Alexander is not included, because his statues were always highly idealised / deified.)
BTW during my search of Greek statues I found this image. Has a variety of noses too!
* how dare the person who made this not know Psarantonis’ name, when they know everyone else, this is sacrilegious!
As for your sample, I wouldn’t use the term shitty but it is limited indeed, not because it is not representative of Greeks but because it is not diverse enough nose-wise.
RIP to Anastasios, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania
I was lucky to see him in service in the Orthdox Cathedral in Tirana during my trip to Albania.
Anastasios was born in Piraeus, Greece. He obtained a bachelor and a master with high honours in religious studies in Greece and Germany respectively. He studied various religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, African religions, Islam.
After serving in Greece for a while as deacon and bishop, he went to Uganda. There he studied the local dialects while doing significant missionary and philanthropic work but had to leave after 10 years, after contracting a severe case of malaria.
He taught Greek language and literature in the University of Marburg, Germany. He was elected a Professor of History of Religions in the Athens University.
Once his health was restored, he returned to East Africa and continued his work there as Metropolitan Bishop of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Ten years later he was appointed Archbishop of Albania, where he completely restored and revived the church. He actively initiated and supported multiple projects in education, public health, social services, agriculture, culture and arts, and ecology. He funded and supported the construction of schools, roads, bridges, hydroelectric dams and more.
In 2000 he was a nominee for the Nobel Prize for Peace.
He died today aged 95 after a severe case of flu that was exacerbated by his old age.
He is widely acknowledged for his work, even by non-Christians.
She’s back and she takes no hostages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boy she didn’t even let a second drop without a symbolism in. As for making a song blending many different styles, nobody can do it like her.
can you tell me more about greeks from eastern europe and MeNa ? I cant find anything on them
Asked by Anonymous
Anon, when you were asking this, I assume you did not expect it would start an Odyssey for me. The ask was literally a “tell me more about the Greeks of three continents” and I… complied. It took me 20 days but I kinda wrote a book here. It was not easy. I used the English Wikipedia for sources. You can look there for more information.
I should note I did not include the Cypriot Greeks in this because I assumed you did not mean Greeks who have their own sovereign state. So, ultimately this is about Greek minorities. The topic of a minority - any minority - is always sensitive. As a result, some information here might be unpleasant. The purpose of the post is not to provoke or cause any controversy. It is only the truth of Greek people living outside Greece and Cyprus.
This post is only about the Greeks specifically from the areas Anon asked about.
Chapters:
Egyptian Greeks
Sudanese, Tunisian and Libyan Greeks
Greeks of Albania
Ukrainian Greeks
Greeks of Russia and other Caucasus Greeks (including those of Georgia and Armenia)
Greeks of Romania and Moldova
Greeks of Bulgaria
Greeks in the Republic of North Macedonia
Greek presence in Hungary, Czechia, Poland and Serbia
Greeks of Syria and Lebanon
Greeks of Israel and Palestine
Greeks of Turkey
North Africa
Egyptian Greeks (Egyptiótes / Alexandriní)
One of the historically most prolific Greek minorities. While mercenaries and other small groups of Greeks had settled in Egypt centuries earlier, they really established themselves there during Alexander’s conquests in the Hellenistic period. Ever since, they have been mostly concentrated around Alexandria, the city Alexander had built and named after himself, and later also Cairo, so they always formed an urban social class. Alexandria was a Greek hub for the longest time, throughout the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Byzantine Empire and even the Ottoman times. Their numbers however had reached their lowest in the 18th century but a new surge of Greeks migrated to Egypt in the meantime, because by 1920 they were 200,000 and by 1940 they were 300,000. Greeks of Egypt were rich, owning banks, tobacco industries, cotton fields and many more businesses. They published several Greek newspapers and had their own theatres and cinemas. The Egyptian Greeks produced many artists, some of whom are amongst the most important Greek poets. Egyptian Greeks volunteered and participated in all wars Greece has been in. There were also many benefactors of the Greek state amongst them like Antonis Benakis for example, who founded the Benaki museums in Greece. In fact, a large number of Modern Greek artists and celebrities were or are descended from Egyptian Greeks. Greeks started leaving Egypt at the times of the coup d'etat of 1952 and the rise of the Pan-Arab nationalism. Nowadays, their number has fallen at around 7,000 while others changed their nationality to Egyptian. However, they are still centered around Alexandria and their churches and schools are still functioning. In Alexandria, apart from the Patriarchate, there is a Patriarchal theology school that opened recently after 480 years being closed. During the last decades, Greco-Egyptian relations have improved again a lot and this affects positively the Greek diaspora there.
A few notable Greeks of Egypt; note the poet Constantine Cavafy (upper row, right) and the nobellist poet George Seferis (lower row, middle).
Greek school play in Cairo for the Greek independence, 2017 - 2018.
how is the dark eyes dark hair olive skin (weither fair or tan) combo seen in greece and what is the average beauty standards of your country ? For context i was arguing with a friend about beauty standards and i was saying how people usually are more attracted to what is different from them (e.g orientalism, [insert ethnicity]-fishing, how fair blue eyed blonde are worshipped in the world) while she was saying that people rather like someone who looks like them (e.g how people search for a partner who looks like their parents, how peoples who are not used to see other ethnicities see them as ugly)
Asked by Anonymous
Dark eyes dark hair is a pretty standard combo in Greece therefore it is considered common. Of course the combo can be elevated by other features i.e large, expressive eyes or luscious silky hair etc
Olive skin is an undertone and I don’t think undertones are all that noticed… I mean, I don’t think people make choices based on undertones.
I agree with you more on that people tend to be impressed by what looks more foreign to them. Light hair, blonde hair, green or blue eyes catch the attention more. Greek men tend to have a thing for Scandinavian blonde women. Greek women however like something more familiar, like dark Mediterraneans, Latinos etc Also, I have noticed that while light haircolours are more appreciated in women, light eyecolours are more appreciated in men.
All these things are not very absolute though. While traditionally women in Greece dye their hair blonde, the recent years dying the hair pitch black is becoming more and more of a trend and men like black haired women too. I suppose haircolour-wise both very light and very dark shades are appreciated while the brown shades are considered plainer. Light eyecolours are appreciated in both, with a slight emphasis in men. Preferred skincolours are golden and medium tans, but a fair complexion combined with dark hair is also appreciated in women. Men are preferred darker. But very fair skintone with very light hair are not all that liked in women either actually. So Greek men have a thing for tanned Scandinavian women vacating in Greek summer lol
When it comes to shape, most men and women like to be realistically fit, not too skinny or way too athletic.
I will say though that while people get attracted by what’s different, I see a lot of times people settling with what’s more familiar in the end.
PS. Remember, the perhaps prettiest woman in Greece currently (IMO) has been a blonde for most of her life
but she’s actually a brunette and she’s been embracing her natural haircolour now and it’s amazing
Γνώμη για το «Υπάρχω»; Έχω ακούσει ότι σαρώνει τους κινηματογράφους αλλά και κάποια παράπονα ότι «ωραιοοιεί» τον Καζαντζίδη ενώ αυτός «ήταν άντρας της εποχής του»
Για να είμαι ειλικρινής δεν γνωρίζω πολλά για τον Καζαντζίδη ως άνθρωπο και δεν έχω δει την ταινία ακόμη για να κρίνω.
Από το «άντρας της εποχής του» καταλαβαίνω ότι μάλλον εννοούμε μισογύνης ή σεξιστής; Με αυτό στο μυαλό μπήκα και έψαξα στο διαδίκτυο αλλά δεν βρήκα κάποια συγκεκριμένη πληροφορία ή κατηγορία.
Διάβασα διάφορα άρθρα και συνέντευξη της Καίτης Γκρέυ, της πρώτης του σημαντικής σχέσης. Από αυτά συμπέρανα ότι κατά βάση ήταν γκρινιάρης και ένιωθε μονίμως αδικημένος αλλά όντως τον εκμεταλλεύονταν τόσο αυτόν όσο και τις γυναίκες του που ανήκαν στον ίδιο χώρο οι δισκογραφικές. Τα περισσότερα δράματα ήταν με δισκογραφικές παρά με τις προσωπικές του σχέσεις.
Ο Καζαντζίδης επίσης πρέπει να είχε πρόβλημα με τον τζόγο και πολλά από τα λεφτά του έφευγαν εκεί. Το βασικό για το οποίο τον κατηγόρησαν τόσο η Γκρέυ όσο και η Μαρινέλλα είναι ότι δεν τους άφησε ούτε δραχμή.
Για τον χωρισμό με την Γκρέυ, ο καθένας κατηγόρησε τον άλλον. Ο Καζαντζίδης είπε ότι εκείνη του φέρθηκε άτιμα, εκείνη είπε ότι δεν της έδινε δεκάρα και μετά προς το τέλος η ίδια είχε ερωτευτεί κάποιον άλλον. Στην συνέντευξη επέμενε ότι αυτή όμως ήταν ο έρωτας της ζωής του (λίγο too much να πεις κάτι τέτοιο δημοσίως όταν η νυν γυναίκα είναι εν ζωή).
Ο γάμος του με την Μαρινέλλα διήρκεσε δύο χρόνια. Ο Καζαντζίδης ήθελε να φύγουν από τα νυχτερινά κέντρα γιατί πίστευε ότι το κλίμα ήταν νοσηρό και τους εκμεταλλεύονταν (ίσως και να ζήλευε). Η Μαρινέλλα ήθελε να συνεχίσει την καριέρα της και μέσα από τα νυχτερινά κέντρα οπότε χώρισαν. Παρά τον χωρισμό συνέχισαν απρόσκοπτα την συνεργασία τους στη μουσική για άλλα δέκα χρόνια χωρίς το παραμικρό πρόβλημα. Για πάντα όταν ρωτιόταν ο Καζαντζίδης έλεγε ότι εκείνη είναι η σπουδαία γυναίκα καλλιτέχνις της χώρας. Μάλιστα, μετά το χωρισμό διατήρησαν στενή φιλία και η Μαρινέλλα έγινε φίλη και με την επόμενη σύζυγο του Καζαντζίδη. Όταν ήταν ετοιμοθάνατος, τον επισκεπτόταν στο νοσοκομείο τακτικά.
Ο Χρήστος Μάστορας αποκάλυψε ότι συνάντησε την Μαρινέλλα σε κάποια πρώιμα στάδια των γυρισμάτων κι εκείνη του είπε: «Ο Στελάκης θα χαιρόταν τόσο πολύ αν έβλεπε πώς τον αποδίδεις», δε θυμάμαι ακριβώς την φράση, κράτησα κυρίως το «ο Στελάκης θα χαιρόταν».
Αυτά βρήκα εγώ. Με αυτά γενικά δε νομίζω ότι ο Καζαντζίδης ήταν μισογύνης ή κακός με τις γυναίκες του, περισσότερο από ό,τι θα ήταν πολλοί άντρες τότε σε σύγκριση με τις προσδοκίες μας σήμερα. Σε αυτόν τον βαθμό θα μπορούσαν και θα έπρεπε να αποδοθούν τα ελαττώματα του στην ταινία, γιατί αυτό κάνει μια σωστή βιογραφία.
Από εκεί και πέρα δε νομίζω ότι έχουμε δεδομένα να βασιστούμε για να τον παρουσιάσουμε ως ένα μονοδιάστατα κακό ή προβληματικό πρότυπο ή να μην γίνει καν ταινία, όπως είδα κάποιους να λένε.
Πάντως σε κριτικές εγώ είδα άλλους να λένε ότι η ταινία τον αγιοποιεί και άλλους να λένε ότι η ταινία τον κάνει πιο κακό ή βίαιο από ό,τι ήτανε. Δεν μπορώ να βγάλω άκρη, ειδικά χωρίς να έχω δει την ταινία. Εγώ εδώ παρέθεσα όλες τις πληροφορίες που βρήκα. Εάν υπάρχουν και άλλα γεγονότα κατακριτέα, λυπάμαι που δεν τα βρήκα και ζητώ συγγνώμη για την πιθανή ελλιπή πληροφόρηση.
what do mainland greeks and cypriots think of eachothers ?
Asked by Anonymous
The Helladites (the Greeks of Greece) have a pretty unanimous opinion about the Cypriots. They all think Cypriots are Greeks far far away who are prevented by Turkey from the Énosis (unification) of Cyprus with Greece. Helladites think of this in emotional terms, rather than strategic or political ones (ie wanting Cyprus just because that would expand the country and make it stronger). First and foremost, they think of it as Greeks who are kept apart from the rest of Greeks and I perceive this as a honest sentiment amongst the people. Other than that, Helladites also believe Cypriots run their country better and that their economy is stronger (per capita). Helladites find the Cypriot accent and dialect “heavy”. Helladites love Halloumi, the Cypriot national cheese, maybe not as much as feta but they still hold it to a high regard.
I feel like the Cypriots have more mixed and stronger opinions but I don’t know if I am an expert because I have interacted with few Cypriots in my life. Historically Cypriots wanted the unification with Greece. After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and Greece’s failure to protect Cyprus let alone that some of its actions made the situation worse, Cypriots were very disappointed and angry at the Helladites. Cypriots call Helladites “kalamarádes” with a touch of irony, which means “the educated ones”. I don’t know why actually, probably due to speaking the standard textbook Greek? I honestly don’t know. Cypriots make fun of the Helladites for their poorer English accents and they defend their dialect for preserving some archaic elements Standard Modern Greek does not.
(Greek) Cypriots are probably grouped in three categories. The largest group is those whose disappointment has started cooling down and they want tight bonds with Greece in all aspects, however they want to keep their sovereignty separate, maybe due to trauma and distrust, or maybe because if we ever attempted something like that, Turkey would start WW3. This is already more or less our situation but there’s always room for further bonding.
The second group are the Cypriots who still want the Enosis. I was reading a comment in YouTube by a foreign tourist saying how he saw more Greek flags in Cyprus than in Greece. Then I had seen in the news about a Cypriot raising one of the biggest Greek flags in the world in a building, I don’t remember exactly why. Greece had some victory in sports or some event or something and he was celebrating like that. Also, this is not just this group of people but an official fact: Greece and Cyprus share the same national anthem. They have the same history books in school. The Cypriot president comes to Athens to attend the Greek Independence Day military march there. Most Cypriot artists come to study and become famous in Greece. There are a lot of Cypriot singers that are crème de la creme of Greece. In the last years there is also almost every year a Helladic - Cypriot TV production. In general the famous people of the two countries are shared totally.
There is a third group of people which I believe to be smaller but it’s particularly promoted by the British zone of influence in the island. Those claim to be “just” Cypriots, with Cypriot being perceived as both a nationality and a separate ethnicity, and wish to cut the so many ties with Greece. I don’t think they are many because their beliefs are not reflected in however the majority of Cyprus and even the state of Cyprus officially act in relation to Greece.
Helladites and Cypriots often pick up silly fights on the social media, where each accuses the other for lack of support or understanding. That one time we gave 4 instead of 12 points to Cyprus in Eurovision almost started a diplomatic episode 🤣 Then Cypriots always participate in reality and contest TV games in Greece and when the winner is voted by the public all of Cyprus votes for the Cypriot only whereas the Helladite participants’ votes are dispersed throughout Greece and as a result nearly always a Cypriot wins in Greece’s game tv shows which at this point makes Helladites mad and accuse Cypriots of bombing the televoting. (Cyprus is always able to vote in Greece tv shows.) You know, such serious stuff.
All in all, from the few Cypriots I’ve met, if you don’t hear the accent, you can’t tell them really apart from a Helladite, despite the actually long marine distance between Greece and Cyprus. By a Helladite acquaintance who lived in Cyprus for a while, I was told there were some small differences in the lifestyle and society but they didn’t expand more. Cyprus is a smaller country and therefore Cypriots tend to stick together more, however most of the (few) Cypriots I have met had flawless smooth friendships, affairs and interactions with Helladites, more like they were too Helladites from a remote Greek island than from a different country.
That’s my personal recollection but again I haven’t met many Cypriots so maybe something here is inaccurate idk
ΤΗΝ ΣΕΒΟΜΟΥΝ ΠΕΡΙΣΣΌΤΕΡΟ ΑΠΟ ΚΑΘΕ ΑΛΛΗ ΤΗΛΕΟΠΤΙΚΉ ΜΑΓΕΊΡΙΣΣΑ ΕΒΕΡ ΗΤΑΝ ΠΡΟΣΙΤΉ ΣΤΟ ΚΟΙΝΌ ΔΕΝ ΈΚΑΝΕ ΜΠΕΛΑΛΙΔΙΚΑ ΚΑΙ ΓΚΟΥΡΜΙΕΔΙΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΗΞΕΡΕ ΌΤΙ ΑΠΕΥΘΥΝΌΤΑΝ ΣΤΗ ΜΕΣΗ ΕΛΛΗΝΊΔΑ ΝΟΙΚΟΚΥΡΆ ΟΠΟΤΕ ΤΑ ΠΆΝΤΑ ΗΤΑΝ ΑΠΛΆ…Θα μου λείψει τόσο πολύ
This woman was Greece’s first and most famous TV cook (when Greece eventually joined the genre in the 1990s). She started her TV career when she was in her mid-50s. She instantly became famous because her recipes and her way of hosting TV shows was done so simply and friendly, like having a beloved aunty, or granny, or even neighbor or friend come over and show you how to cook that recipe she had served you a few days before and you asked her for the recipe. All the Greeks that grew up in the 1990s and the 2000s remember her as a trademark of their childhood. But she was a powerhouse in her own right.
She eventually became a successful businesswoman. Her business, Vefa’s House, was selling kitchen items that she used in her own TV appearances.
She’s the only Greek TV cook who cooked next to Martha Stewart.
When she started to appear in morning TV shows as a cook (that’s how she became famous), she was doing it for free. Cooking was probably so under-appreciated by the media ‘moguls’ of the day that they didn’t pay her, they didn’t even pay the food she was cooking with, and when she demanded her payment (because she did help increase their ratings) - guess what happened? They refused to pay her, and she quit on her own accord (later on went on to have a separate cooking show of her own. She’s perhaps the first cook in Greece - male or female - to achieve that)
She’s famous for the simple way she wrote and presented her recipes. She really made it easy for people to learn how to cook! Plus, in the early-to-mid 2000s, she published an entire section of cookbooks with special plastic paper, because plastic was more durable than 'regular’ paper in the kitchen and it could be easily cleaned up if dirty!
She’s also credited with rescuing traditional Greek cooking. Not an exaggeration. She wrote tons upon tons of cookbooks about the traditional recipes of various parts of Greece and she recorded all of them in writing. Ilias Mamalakis (another famous Greek TV chef and everyone’s favourite 'uncle’) also did that, but he’s more famous for the TV show he used to host where he travelled all over Greece and gathered local recipes.
I saw people on X/Twitter who had met her say that, even if they met her abroad - diaspora Greeks - and they complained about how her recipes were turning out badly because they couldn’t find the right (Greek) products she advised on using, she told them precisely which other products to use in that foreign country and also where to find them. That’s passion!
She outlived BOTH of her daughters and she ended up raising her grandchildren. Yet she was criticized for still showing up in public with her famous blue eye shadow because, apparently, a woman who’s outlived both children and had grandkids to raise had to stay home all day and sink into depression *rolls eyes*
Towards the end of her life, she became outspoken politically and she participated in rallies that supported that Macedonia was Greek. Mikis Theodorakis had taken part in these marches also, but he was criticized less than Vefa Alexiadou - apparently, because his wife and both his children were still alive.
She always showed up with a smile on her face and nicely dressed. Even towards the end, she was still perfectly coiffed and bejeweled, and still the kind person we’ve always known her to be.
In her funeral, no one from the famous Greek cooks - except for Ilias Mamalakis - showed up. Not Argyro Barbarigou, not Andreas Lagos, not even Akis Petertzikis. Greek TV now is filled with cooking TV shows in her format (literally the “she walked so that they could run” meme), she also supported young Greek cooks by including them in her shows or cookbooks, and not one of these people showed up to honour her.
Vefa Alexiadou was so beloved by an entire generation of Greeks and losing her feels like losing a grandma or a beloved aunty to most of us who grew up with her. We may have turned out horrible cooks (sorry, Mrs. Vefa!) but at least we still remember her fondly and we can still turn to her recipes if we want something simple yet tasty. But she was also an amazing enterpreneur and a person who refused to give up on living, no matter the hardships that’d come her way.
I’m close to crying even as I write this, but if I knew where her funeral was held sooner, I would have genuinely gone. It may seem small, I never even knew her, but she was THAT BELOVED.
Another fact: she was a chemist, she graduated from Aristotle University and then she continued her studies in food science in Berkley College in California, USA. And again, she was 91 years old when she died, born in 1933… so put that in perspective.
The Marabu project (so named after the famous poem of sailor - poet Nikos Kavvadias) is a project initiated by Konstantinos and Petros Sofikitis, an exploration of the Aegean Islands in an attempt to showcase the personal stories of the islanders and preserve the customs, lifestyle, professions and the authentic character of an Aegean which fast becomes the victim of global tourism and the loss of its young population to the large urban centers.
The two men and their co-workers aim to explore thoroughly 78 inhabited islands, take photos, collect the experiences of the locals, make exhibitions and books and eventually a cinematic documentary. The newspaper Kathimerini made a tribute about the project recently and I am just adding below a few of the pictures and their respective stories that I found captivating.
Sosa, 88, Ikaria island. At the age of 6 she left with her family for (then) Belgian Congo. Her early memories there include witnessing gang rapes and hanging of children she used to know and play with. Her family returned to Greece where at her pre-teens she would fetch food and water to a leftist guerilla hiding close to her house, during the Greek Civil War. The young man promised to marry her once the war was over. A few days later she saw his head carried in the harbour of the island. As Sosa was growing up she lost her eyesight and she was treated as mentally unstable. She emigrated to Germany where a therapist realised her bad vision did not have a pathological cause but a psychological one. The therapist urged her to do what she loved, composing little poems in the Ikarian rhythm. After years of therapy, Sosa gradually regained her vision. She returned to Athens and then back to her island for life. She considered herself responsible for the death of her first love up till her 70s, believing she had unwillingly done something that revealed the hiding man’s location, until destiny at some point made her hear the man who had cut her love’s head boast about it in an accidental encounter in Naxos island… Sosa has been the first female violin teacher in the island, she writes poetry and articles for the local newspaper and adds verses from Aristophanes in the folk Ikarian songs so “kids will learn them more easily”.
Ilias Kourtzis, Lesvos island. His family has a pottery legacy since 1820. He is the last one to continue the family tradition.
Manolis Kokkonis, Patmos island. Thirty years a sailor, he was - in his wife’s words - one of the very few brave enough who dared do preservation works down in the anchor chain spot.
Akathi, Iraklia island. The captainess fishes on her own the fish she then serves in her tavern.
The Klimis family, Kalymnos island. The Klimis family is sort of a legend in Kalymnos because nobody knows exactly their whereabouts. The explorers managed to locate them, not without a lot of legwork. They are all shepherds who live as recluses but they welcomed the explorers with notable warmth. They offered them a big quantity of wild greens (ingredients for a loved salad in Greece) they had collected as a parting gift. Mr Michalis in particular said: “We were born here, we shall die here. This olive tree over here is 2,000 years old and offers us everything it has; olives, oil, shadow. And yet we fight over who it belongs to”.
Miltos Makris, Milos island. “I have some trouble (affectionate) 52 years now, my wife. She’s been putting up with me for 52 years, isn’t this awesome? When I was still working at the port as a lineman, Angelina Jolie showed up in the ship’s stern with some Asian kids and some Arabic kids (clearly refers to her adopted children). They asked me, do you know who that is? Why, does she know who I am? Overrated chick, you should see my wife and your jaw would drop! We sit together now and we share a good laugh, no mumbling for us. Two souls. Mutual respect and love is all it takes.”
Chrysa Kazala, 80, Ikaria island. Chrysa can trace her family history back to the 16th century, when pirates tied her ancestor to the mast and were intending to execute him for sharing food with the crew. However, it was getting dark and they left his execution for the next day because muslims did not execute after the sunset. In the meantime, her ancestor managed to free himself from his ropes and fell into the sea. He was collected by Ikarian pirates who looked after him and then married him to their sister. Chrysa, married and divorced twice, prefers her solitude - even if you have a relationship, it is better to live in separate houses, she maintains - and travelling, her peak journey being that in Antartica in 2006.
Mr Markos, 95, with his wife, Amorgos island. Mr Markos is a coffee shop owner. At his age Mr Markos faces some difficulties with his senses, his speech and his walk, yet when asked, he answered this was the happiest phase of his life because there is no bigger blessing than having your great grandchildren living and working in the space and the workplace you have created. When asked to get photographed, he answered: “Everything I have accomplished in my life and I am proud of, I owe it to my wife, therefore I can’t be photographed on my own, I want you to take a photo of us together”.
These photos and the stories belong to the Marabu Project as presented by Kathimerini newspaper in this article here, which also offers more stories as well as the sentiment of the islanders in regards to their place in the Greek society, the emigration of the young people and the treatment by the Greek state. The article is in Greek.
The Marabu Project also has its own website. From the website, you can download a free pdf from a small book about the South Aegean islands (a few Cycladic and a few Dodecanesian ones). All the texts are in both Greek and English. Features beautiful landscape photography as well. I haven’t checked the stories yet as it is 70 pages long. This book is to my understanding only part of the ongoing project which aspires to cover all the Aegean islands. The link for the free book here.
Traditional authentic attire at the Lonsdale Street Greek Festival “Antipodes”. This is the Sarakatsani dress as worn by Evelyn Darzanos. Photo by pontian69 on Instagram.
I was reading a collection of Japanese legends and discovered that their author, Lafcadio Hearn, was part Greek by mother and was born in Greece, although he didn't remain there and was raised mostly in Ireland. At some point, he moved to Japan and married Koizumi Setsuko, a Japanese woman. He wrote books inspired by Japanese folklore with the help of his wife, who is said to have been passionate about legends and who apparently helped him both with writing in Japanese and with information about legends she knew. When he became a Japanese citizen, he took her surname and his Japanese name was Yakumo Koizumi. Both of his marriages were controversial by the standards of the time, as his first wife Alethea Foley was a Black American woman and this violated Ohio's anti-miscegenation law at the time and his second wife Koizumi Setsuko was Japanese and at the time Japan was also not open-minded about marriage with foreigners. Apparently, he had some importance in popularizing Japanese stories in Europe and the Americas. My question is: is he known in Greece? It's said that he had a great interest in Greek culture. I admit I hadn't heard of him before reading this collection, so I was curious if he was known in his mother's country. His mother, Rosa Cassimati, at one point annulled her marriage to his father and returned to Greece, as she was suffering from xenophobia in Ireland and missed home.
Incidentally, I found out about him recently in some article about little known influential Greeks. As this already implies, no he is not known in Greece. The attempts to make him known to the wide public, which I have noticed, are very recent and scarce. I have made a mental note to read his works, it will be so refreshing to read a Greek exploring a foreign culture instead of the opposite all the time. (Semi related fun fact: A LOT of the information we have about Wallachian Vlad Tepes, commonly known as Dracula, and especially his father and grandfather, come from his contemporary Greek historian named Laónikos Chalkokondýles. Does this have anything to do with Lafcadio? Well no, except the similarity that the vast majority of Greeks do not know him and I did not either until I made the peculiar decision to read a Romanian historian’s book about Dracula who was citing Chalkokondyles all the time!) Unfortunately Greeks nowadays only appreciate the popularisedTM by the West parts of our history, with few exceptions. A tragedy to be honest with you.
To turn back to him, can we appreciate how the Cassimatis mindset was so ahead of its time?
Lafcadio went against the law to marry a Black American.
He fully embraced his second wife’s culture and adjusted completely to it, to not make their marriage and her situation amongst fellow Japanese people difficult.
He took her surname, so non-typical for a man of his time.
His mom was not having it with the racism, said fook this, dumped the dad and returned to Greece. (Okay basically the marriage was awful in general and she couldn’t tolerate it so much she had to leave the children behind - the children were treated well by the father’s family)
There are museums both in Greece, in Lefkada island (his birthplace - hence his name) and in Japan about him. The town of Lefkada and Matsue city in Japan have become sister cities. So he is well known on an academic and statutory level in Greece but people on average do not know about him and his interesting life, no.
A sideblog that celebrates all that is good about this pretty country, especially whatever is less known or promoted. In this way, I myself want to discover things about Greece I don't already know. I hope it's gonna be the same for you too! Disclaimer: All photos belong to their respective owners. If you see your photo here and wish me to remove it, please inform me. Below you can find popular tags based on geography and culture. In the regions option you can find travel and historical information on all regions of Greece and you can dive deeper into the Greek world wiith the respective option featuring tags specifically about the Greek language and culture.
