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Since the beginning of the school year 2010 - 2011, the learners of the Primary School of Pteleos have been exchanging national traditions and customs with learners that come from other European countries. Here is the presentation of Carnival customs in Thessaly, Greece.
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Primary School of Pteleos, Greece
Carnival in Greece and the whole world is a period of fun and entertainment! People feel like having fun during the Carnival, as it is celebrated forty days before Easter, when Orthodox Christians fast and mourn for Christ’s sufferings.
Some of the traditions still followed in Thessaly are the following:
Dressing-up Lighting fires Dancing
gaitanaki Flying a kite on
Clean Monday
Koudounati in Skiros Island, Greece
During the Carnival people, all dressed-up, celebrate in the streets and in the
central town squares. They
dance, sing and drink wine.
Dressed-up people bear different
names in different places in Greece:
“koudounati”, “kamouzeles”,
“mouskari”.
The celebration and the dressing-up resemble
the ancient Greek celebrations in honor of
Dionysus, the god of grape, harvest,
winemaking and wine (Greek mythology).
However, this tradition precedes the one
related to Dionysus. Dressing up and having
fun was part of a religious process of the ancient farmers, who
thought they were casting a spell on the fertility of their fields!
: CARNIVAL FIRES Carnival fires are lit all over Greece on the
last Sunday of the Carnival period, right before Clean Monday. Mainly young people make sure that they have enough cedar
brunches and yew, in order to light a big fire. In some cities
people burn the King of the Carnival, a
handmade image / doll of a funny
character.
There was some kind of a competition in the past! Each neighbourhood was trying to light the biggest fire! People jumped over the fire flames to send away everything
evil and get more power!
GAΪTANAKI, A TRADITIONAL CARNIVAL DANCE
Gaitanaki is an ancient dance which originates
from the ancient Frigia (in northern-central Turkey). People back then were decorating trees with
flowers, wreaths, bells, ribbons as well as fruit coming from Mother
Earth. They were holding the ribbons and dancing around the tree, showing their joy and happiness.
The ribbons hanging from the tree used to represent the warm sun rays. Nowadays, people use a wooden pole in place of the tree for this dance. There are 12 dancers holding the ribbons and one who is holding the pole.
The twelve dancers symbolize the 12 months of the year. Men and women dance, knitting a wonderful braid on the wooden pole. This dance represents the circle of life and the changes that occur in it. Seasons come and go, the weather changes, emotions vary … We move from happiness to sadness, from winter to spring, from life to death and the opposite!
The ‘Pepper’ song Pepper used to be one of the most favourite
spices of Byzantine people.
Merchants used to carry sacks full of pepper beans coming from Asia, so they were asking for a lot of money to sell it. Monasteries of the times, which were also trading goods, decided to start ordering pepper and sell it as pepper powder. Of course it would be sold in a much
higher price!
The ‘Pepper’ song However, the monks had a difficulty in
working with the pepper beans, as pepper powder was always in their noses and eyes! For this reason, they used to hire children. Unfortunately, children also could not work with the pepper beans for long. Consequently, powdering the pepper beans became the punishment for the monks who misbehaved! Whenever a monk had done something wrong, all the other monks would have said: “Now you’ll see how pepper powder is made”!
The ‘Pepper’ song lyrics How do the monks
powder the pepper beans?They powder them using their kneeand they sift them carefully.
How do the monkspowder the pepper beans?They powder them using their noseand they sift them carefully.
How do the monkspowder the pepper beans?They powder them using their backand they sift them carefully.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkvale/2604498111
FLYING A KITE On Clean Monday, the day that follows the
end of the Carnival celebrations, the Greek sky gets filled with colourful ‘birds’, meaning the kites! This day marks the beginning of the fasting period. Religious people do not eat meat and dairy products for 40 days, until Easter comes.
Kites were also used in ancient Greece. According to
popular belief, kites have been invented by the
Eastern people. They used to be decorated with wishes that were written on the kite and flown as closer to God as possible! They also used to decorate them with small
recorders that were producing a sound that was thought to send away the
evil spirits!
ENJOY THE CARNIVAL!ENJOY THE CARNIVAL!