The Feast Day of St. Laurence

"Mommy," Faviana asks me, "what is a Name Day? Is it when they give you a new name?" I replied, "No, it's when they celebrate the one you have."


The feast day of St. Laurence is usually celebrated on August 10th but since there are so many Laurences in our surrounding villages, Lori celebrates his on the evening of August 9th.

His house is located about 4 kilometers past our village on the way to Koris tis Pirgos. Lori's house is quite nice and fairly new. It not only has a house but a beautiful stone church as well on his property. His nameday celebration is very popular and many people come to wish him well.

A normal name day is when you set up a table with sweets and alcohol and whoever remembers that it's your nameday calls or shows up at your house to wish you Χρόνια Πολλά (Many years) and you offer them the sweets and drink.

Lori's celebration is quite different. He has enough food and drink to serve the masses and actually resembles more like a wedding feast than a typical nameday celebration. The liturgy started at 7 pm at his church. Pater Rihardo was at the ready to lead the service. When the liturgy started there were a few people spilling out of the church. By the end of the liturgy there were people crowding most of the grounds. His house is situated far atop the hill and has a beautiful view of the ocean and Draconisi (Dragon Island), a small island off Kolymbithra Beach. The caterers, Mesklies, had already set up their tables and chairs along the perimeter, in the threshing pit, and parts of the drive. The tables had wine glasses and place settings and their catering tables were loaded with food. There was salad, Tinian fresh cheese, Tinian dried sausage (louza), chicken in cream, meatballs, vegetable lasagna, and various Tinian deserts like pasteli, mandolato, tiropitakia.

As soon as the liturgy ended, people sat down at the tables and the servers came by with wines, sodas, beers and various deserts as starters. As soon as the buffet table opened, a long line formed. There was plenty of food and drink and lots of conversation and merriment. The loudspeakers had 'nisiotika' (island music) playing and some people got up to dance. At one point, Dad, Theio Yianni, and Fragkisko were singing to the music. People started to drift slowly away after dinner but Lori asked them to stay for loukoumades, which were being delivered from Hora. The loukoymades were yet to arrive but we eventually left around 11 pm and there were still many people. We never did eat loukoymades but the good thing with Name Days --there's always next year!

The Who, the What, the House

When my great grandfather Ioanni hand built the house is 1888, the ground floor had two stables and α courtyard with a stone arch leading out to a garden. The front door from the road opens to these stables and also a stone staircase that winds up past the outhouse to the second floor. On the second floor, which are the living quarters, there were two bedrooms, a grande salon, a petite salon, a kichen, a front balcony and a back balcony.














My grandfather Favies built the dovecoat and plumbed the house. Between the petite salon and the kitchen they built a fake wall and that had a toilet and a sink. To take a bath you still had to step into a small cooking tub in the kitchen and have water put over you. The water from the kitchen sink led out to a trough that watered the garden.











My Dad put in a garage, a modern bathroom and kitchen, two really nice wall air conditioners and continues the regular upkeep on the house. For the past couple of days, Alket has been helping Dad spruce up the house. Alket has been whitewashing the exterior. Dad has been painting the exterior wooden shutters and frames. The house is so white now that the glare from the sun almost hurts your eyes. The shutters are so blue that they absorb the heat and soothe the ferocity of the sun.









But the renovations are never at an end. The kitchen still needs a countertop that we're waiting on. There are stones stacked up outside for paving the front and back balconies but first Dad wants to expand the back balcony and grow a grapevine canopy over one section for afternoon shade. I believe those plans have already been discussed with Donado, our favorite builder, and are slated to begin over the winter months.

My great grandfather Ioanni built a strong foundation and left something for all of us to build on.

Mnymosyna

It's a funny thing here when Sunday church services only have a handful of people in the pews and off day memorial services are full to the brim. The last Sunday service had 25 people and that included the priest and the baby in the bjorn. The memorial service in Kato Kleisma yesterday and the memorial service in Aetofolia today had more people spilling out of the respective churches than an Easter Saturday liturgy. Which leads me to beg the question, Why?


The liturgy service is the same. It takes about an hour. The time it takes place is the same, at 9 am. The church bells give off the same ding dong ding dong ding call to the villagers. So if I factor out all these variables, the only thing left is the food. And oh boy, do the memorial services have good food.


The memorial service starts at 9 am. The church proper is full of people, the men in the front, women and children in the back. Some men stand by the entrance to the church but most sit outside in the courtyard. Some men pretend they are praying and have their heads bowed but personally I think they're taking a refreshing nap. Others have no pretense and talk in low voices. Small children come in and out of the church. For memorial services, most women tend to wear darker clothes. The men wear various shades of blue. Inside the church, at the entrance, are the candles in a tall stand. Today, Faviana said that she thought she smelled popcorn. Nicoletta, the other 6 year old in the village, responded, "That's not popcorn, someone burned their hair!"


The liturgy ends around 10 am. The people holding the memorial service for their loved ones step out a couple of minutes early to go prepare the coffee. Various other women help serve the food. So what's on the menu? Greek coffee in porcelain cups. On the tray is a can of Noynoy condensed milk and sugar to add to the coffee. Next is paximadia (twice baked bread) and following that are slices of kefalotyri cheese. Then come the baked goods: small tsourekis sealed in a bag. (These the people take home to eat). Yesterday's sealed tsoureki bag also contained an almond cookie. Today's contained only the tsoureki. The almond cookie came sealed separately. There was also spinach pies, cheese pies and lots of little chocolates. Oh, and let's not forget the raki (moonshine) that flows like water here.


The men stand in clumps outside. The women are inside the church hall drinking their coffee. Our hall is small and the chairs are lined side by side against the four walls. Once everybody has their fill of food and drink and the gossip has come to a close, people start to drift away. Most of the gossip centers on who's coming, how long their staying and who's not coming and why. Some friends who have come separately and have not seen each other in a while, leave together. Others are invited back to people's homes.


So who did I see? I saw George Sklavos, a cousin of my Dad's that I absolutely adore. What a nice man. He seems so sad. I haven't seen him since his wife passed away several years ago. His daughter, Zaklyn, is here from Paris. He gave me her number so we could get together. I saw Theia Toula and Uncle John. Angela stayed in the village. The mnymosyno was for the grandmother of the Gkeka family who passed away two years ago so there were many members from that family here. And of course, all the winter villagers were there to pay their respects. Lots of people from Kato Kleisma and Kalloni. Most of the people there were over 60. There were a handful of people in their 30's and a handful of children.