Ag. Panteleimona

Most liturgies at the exoklisia are hosted by one family and have a small gathering. Not so with Agio Panteleimona. There was heavy traffic on the road below my house in Aetofolia of cars heading to that church. Although the church is located in a remote setting, there is a dirt road that goes directly to the church. The liturgy started at 7:00 pm and there was already a long line of cars when I got there.






The courtyard of the church was full of people. Many looked on from the doorway. The seating outside was full. To the left, it was a long line of only men. To the right, it was a long line of various families sitting side by side. Faviana found her friends and went and sat with them by the entrance to the church.










The liturgy actually lasted awhile. It seemed like Father Rihardo wanted to put on the full mass since he had such a large gathering. The setting itself was beautiful and I stood outside looking out to Draconisi, a large rock in the sea or just milled around the courtyard. There were several religious people who actually wanted to listen to the service and shushed the talking crowd outside of the church at various religiously sacred times.







After the service ended, various guests broke out the refreshments. There was plenty of raki to be had, fried tomato dumplings, tiropites, chocolate covered cookies, merengues, almond cookies, cake, and some other unidentified deserts that passed by before I could look at them. The people greeted each other, Kai tou Xronou (and to next year) and they all took off, sated from food and drink and proud to have done their duty religiously. What a great panagiri!

Jimmy's Wedding

It was a beautiful sun-ripened day -- perfect for a wedding. We saw Jimmy before the wedding and he seemed very calm and happy about his upcoming nuptuals. There was no last minute running around or nervousness about the preparations. He had the carefree Ikarian demeanor. It was around 4:00. The wedding was at 7:00 in Xilosirti. The courtyard outside Ag. Marina was dressed and ready to go. All the tables were covered with white tablecloths. The glasses and silverware were on the tables. The trees had white gauze wrapped around their trunks and there were white paper lanterns hanging on a wire from the church across to the kitchen. The head table was decorated with white toile and delicate gauzy butterflies floated on each corner. The beautiful flowers from the altar would be the last to arrive with the wedding party to complete the wedding atmosphere.


We arrived back at the courtyard in Ag. Marina at around 9:00. There were already several tables of guests seated and waiting for the wedding party to return from Xilosirti. The food was prepared and the wait staff was going around placing red and white wine on the tables. The bread came next. The wedding party arrived around 10:00 and the wedding reception was in full party mode by 10:01! The band started playing. The wait staff started serving the food. There were healthy portions of rice and goat, mezedes of tomato and cucumber salad and spanakopita. The wait staff had what initially looked like a door with handles on either end and they would load the platters on this 'door' and serve tables at a time.



Jimmy and his bride looked very happy and the kefi was on fire. The violin player came down from the band area and set the dance floor on fire. Guns were popping at various intervals (loud bangs), confetti poppers were being set off and confetti rained on the dancers.

My children had fallen asleep early. At around 1:30 am, I packed the kids and the various guests (7 total) in the Merc and headed back down to Aghio Kyriko. I really did want to stay and I heard reports the next morning that the party started to wind down at around 6 am. I also heard that they put Jimmy in the kazani and flavored him with pepper. I wish I was around to see that! However, I was happy I got to be there with the newlyweds and share in there joy. Na zhsete eutuxismenoi!

Going home to Perdiki

I have such fond memories of my Grandmother Angeliki. I remember her sweet smile the most and even now when I think of her smiling at me, it brings me comfort. I remember her always asking if I were 'tris eutuximenh'. I wish I could tell her about my life now and tell her, I am, Yiayia, I am.

Going home to Perdiki was just as much about as seeing the house where we spent such fond summers as children as about visiting Yiayia and saying hello. It had been such a long time since I visited her gravesite and brought her flowers.
The road to Perdiki was alot steeper than I remember, alot smaller than I remember (it only fit my car at times) and alot more curvy. However, when I reached Filenaspa and made the turn, my heart beat a little faster with excitement. Perdiki was absolutely the same! Look, there's Panagia church! Look, there's Ag. Marina church! Look, there's Alexi's bus! Look, the vounari and Yiayia's house!



The vounari was now a parking lot for cars and I parked my car right alongside the others. From the outside, the house looked absolutely the same but as I drew a little closer I started to see the tell tale differences. The trees looked thirsty. The garden that my Grandmother tended had weeded over and was dry and cakey. The gate to the courtyard was rusty and age worn.

One of the strongest memories I have as a child is sitting in the courtyard at a plastic table under a canopy of grapevines counting the amount of flies that had fallen prey to the fly swatter that my Grandfather would wield with deadly accuracy. The table was now gone and the grapevines were valiantly trying to bear their fruit. The visino tree that Yiayia used to make visinada from had dried up cherries. Visinada is still my favorite drink/gluko only because it reminds me of my Yiayia.

I could almost see Pappou burning the trash in the courtyard. As a kid, I thought that was the coolest thing. Who knew anything back then about dioxins. Burning paper and plastic still reminds me of that big blue metal drum that Pappou would burn everything in.

Going through the house, I could almost see Yiayia sitting by the fireplace or Theia Dina making french fries in the kitchen or Pappou smoking by the garden. What odd things memories are. They're like ghosts populating the empty background. I started to cry as I went through the house. It made me so sad to see the house so forlorn and empty. I did not stay long. I miss them so much. As much as I want to, I can't revisit the past. Ghosts, memories, there there to remind us to savor the present.