Kifissos: a modest river god

Earlier this winter our friend Thanasis-an interpid "hunter" of the most forgotten places on the map of Greece-took us for a trip to locate the springs of Kifisos river,on the slopes of Parnassus mounain.

 Parnassus's most visited site is the imposing and unforgetable Oracle of Delphi, not to mention the ski resort and the night life in Arahova village.

But the tiny spring of the god/river on the shady side of the mountain, lost somewhere between the rocks and a muddy,slipery road, had been dressed in impressive winter colors and for a moment there was real magic in the air!

The river,though modest at the start,has a length of almost 60 Km and has been watering the fertile plains of Thebes for millenia. "Biotikos" Kifisos -to distinguish from his brother of the same name in Athens,which is now a fast tack motorway...sigh*-never reaches the sea. His waters,whatever is left after the farmers take their share,goes into Athens's watering system.
 Near the springs ,up a slipery hill are boulders left from the walls of the ancient city of Lilaia.

Lilaia was a mighty city some 4.000 years ago, strong enough to send ships and warriors to fight in the Troyan war, as mentioned by Homer. Although,judging by the ruins, I' not sure what the ancients meant by mighty...whatever :)

As in most places,the stone blocks from the ancient buildings had been used for the construction of the first Christian churches. Saint Mary the Compassionate-dated around the 7th century a.D- lies in ruins near the springs. The ministery of Culture sign hasn't been popular with the local hunters...

Parnassus had just been sprinkled by the first snows,Thanasis knew a fine taverna down the other side of the mountain and there is nothing I love more than finishing a nice day trip with friends around a table !

The potato "revolution"

(or why Greece still has a good chance to come to her senses)

 

I've said it before and I 'll say it again: I love it when something "clicks" for the first time in people's minds!!! (I'm absolutely thrilled whenever something clicks in mine too).

During the last two weeks the so called "potato movement" has been born, is gathering strength and has everyone-including the communist party lol-worrying. It all started when the potato producers in northern Greece got really furious with the "middlemen",who are buying their potatoes for 0,15 euros while the consumer prices are anything between 0,60 to 0,85 euros per kilo...at least 400% up!!!!!

The Nevrokopi district producers went to the nearest big city-Katerini-with their trucks full of potatoes and gave them away for free to anyone passing by. This gave to some the brilliant idea of organizing a direct producer -to- consumer- sale of potatoes. Through the Internet various groups-from nurses' unions to municipalities in Athens-are now ordering truckloads of -very tasty-Nevrokopi potatoes for 0,25 per kilo, young farmers from other parts of Greece are "waking up" and there are thoughts about the direct sale also of olive oil, meat, lentils, flour etc.

Of course the "middlemen" have been furious.For decades they kept the farmers and the consumers isolated and that meant BIG money for them and for the big supermarket chains-which incidentally have started to lower their potato prices, hehe.

In order to force farmers to sell their crops cheap,they even import potatoes from Egypt, "baptize" them Greek and sell them in high prices. And that's why the Nevrokopi farmers still had half their annual production unsold!!!

A member of the government tried to insinuate yesterday that the directly sold potatoes are not of a good quality,(duh?) and the communist party (yes,we still got one,aren't we lucky?) attacked the initiative, cause "it distracts the people from the real enemy and keeps farmers away from their unions", give me a break and start living in the present....sigh*

To be honest, this potato "revolution" is one of the very few positive things happening these last two years in Greece. Something that breaks away from old bad habits and decades of complacency. Whenever a crisis strikes ,there is the huge, Heaven-send, let's-see-how-you-cope-now-baby opportunity for change!! CHANGE!!! I love it! It makes me believe we (or the younger generations) will make it through :))

P.S Potatoes were first planted in Greece during the 1.830's .The first governor of the new Greek Sate, John Capodistrias, brought the until then unknown in mainland Greece veggie from Liverpool and from France. Legend has it that in order to make Greek farmers interested in the new crop,he stacked potatoes in a barn and put an armed guard in front. Hmm,thought the farmers,there must be something precious in there to be guarded so well....so they sneaked in and stole the potatoes! Mission accomplished!!!

Epiphany!! The world tree is safe!!

I do love the persistent pagan elements that have managed to survive centuries of persecution by the Church! People here have stubornly kept them alive and the Church had no option but to respect and incorporate them in it's rituals :)

 Epiphany is the day the nasty demons of the underworld have to go back to the deepest parts of the earth. Their 13 days of causing mischief among the humans  are over!

Kalikandjari visiting the upper world in a painting of P.Tetsis

In Greece they are called "Kalikandjari",misshapen,black gnomelike creatures,who love to steal sweets from pantries,sour the milk,spill the sugar and in general cause as much trouble as possible! Kalikandjari spend the whole year sawing the trunk of the world tree,the tree that upholds the world...but -lucky for us-they are a bit stupid.

Every year on the 6th of January,just before the tree is cut, they move to the surface world to celebrate their success.The 13 days they spend here are enough for the world tree to grow strong again.

A day before Epiphany in quite a lot of places in Greece, men dress in animal hides and go around the neiborhoods "terrorising" housewives and demanding to be served sweets and alcool :)

 In every town,village and city after mass, the priest blesses the waters and then throws the cross in. 

Εither some faithful (and brave) souls plunge  in to retrieve it or-after some incidents when the cross has been forever lost in the sea- the cross is pulled back by a piece of string, like in this atmospheric video from Akrotiti in Santorini!

In Northern Greece the blessing takes place in rivers or lakes and in some rather awkward circumstances in the village fountain like in the village of Kivotos in Grevena.

Notice the moment of panic as the children can't locate the cross...

After the blessing,the priest, "armed" with a bunch of basil leaves and the now holy water, exorcises the "Kalikandjari" and sends them back to the underworld. Of course after all the rituals everybody is cold and hungry and in the mood for some serious wine drinking and dancing!