The people gathered here were members of a club formed by the Gaintatzis family in 1994 to help perpetuate the local fire-walking traditions.Ī woman folds cloths inside the konaki. His family, who once lived in what is today the Bulgarian town of Kosti, in eastern Thrace, arrived in Lagadas in 1923, after the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Gaintatzis, who is 85, is one of the oldest fire walkers in the country. The family and close friends of Anastasios Gaintatzis are some of the last remaining participants. In 2016 I traveled to northern Greece to meet some of the people who maintain these traditions. ![]() In the Greek village of Lagadas, the celebrations for saints Constantine and Helen last for three days. In the small village of Lagadas, about half an hour outside Thessaloniki in northern Greece, the celebrations last for three days and include a spectacular fire-walking ritual called Anastenaria, the word for which derives from the Greek “anastasi,” meaning resurrection. The rest will follow.Įach year on May 21, the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. The head of the fire-walking group steps first onto the burning coal. Members of the fire-walking group dance to the music. Participants holding Greek Orthodox icons gather during the ceremony. A while later, in a kind of an ecstasy, they began walking barefoot on burning coals. Their voices carried outside into the rainy streets. He puts silver petals, golden nails and a pearl on the saddle. He saddles and horseshoes his horse in the night, His mother had him, she took care of him while he was very young, The dancers, surrendering to the music, had their eyes closed.Ĭonstantine the little one, little Constantine, A small group of men and women, clutching the holy icons of Greek Orthodox saints, was dancing and twirling around the floor under the sound of the instruments: a Thracian lyra, a gaida, a tambourine. The room was dimly lit, illuminated only by a weak yellow light bulb and the flames from the fireplace. Glimpses of an Ancient Fire-Walking Ritual in Northern Greeceīurning coal is scattered on the floor in preparation for a fire-walking ceremony.Credit. On Tue, Feb 2, 2021, at 2:02 PM, David Bilides wrote: Today, 40 years later, that area is a stronghold of the Islamist hard-liners in Tunisia. When I tried to ask my co-workers what I had witnessed, they refused to talk about what I had witnessed. We slept on the ground with thousands(?) of men, and then returned to the office by bus the next AM. Shortly thereafter, as the bonfire died, the dancers ceased self-flagellation, and began barefoot hot-coal walking: I did NOT try to verify the coals were hot. Since I saw NO blood, I suspected these were the "spineLESS" variety, and stepped out of the 'spectator circle' to pick up a broken-off piece, and was promptly bleeding from MULTIPLE sites. Then, as I edged forward thru the circle of onlookers, I realized the dancers were flagellating their shoulders and backs swinging Prickly Pear cactus 'branches'. ![]() Great fotos! In 1981 we were Peace Corps volunteers in Tunisia, and the old 'gardien' of our office took me to a HUGE gathering of men on a deserted field near Tabarka, where I watched hundreds(?) of men 'dance' around a bonfire. On Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 7:04:07 PM EST, Bryn Hammarstrom > wrote: National Geographic short film on the custom (though could've done without the African style drumming in the background)Ī lot has been written about the Anastenaria over the years - in English, can recommend Loring Danforth's Firewalking and Religious Healing. More old footage - there is a bit of disjoint between the (somewhat sensationalized) English narration and the actual clips shown and is not a the same as the Greek subtitles - but the actual footage is amazing On Tue, at 10:42 PM joe graziosi > wrote:ġ968 documentary (warning: vivid but short take on ritual sacrifice) We're still working on the website but it'll all be available to peruse soon, hopefully! Thanks for all this, Joe! When I was digitizing and cataloguing James Notopoulos's field recordings from 1952-1953, I found audio recordings of some Anastenaria as well as a Greek radio documentary. ![]() Subject: Re: Glimpses of an Ancient Fire-Walking Ritual in Northern Greece Messages sorted by: įrom: eefc-request at on behalf of Paddy League Ĭc: eefc at Bryn Hammarstrom David Bilides Jerry Kisslinger.Next message: Announcement: online roundtable "Art and Its Histories in Contemporary Greece: Concepts, Debates, Challenges", 11 Feb & more.Fw: Glimpses of an Ancient Fire-Walking Ritual in Northern Greece Chris Williams troianovagroup at Fw: Glimpses of an Ancient Fire-Walking Ritual in Northern Greece
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