Epiphany

ΔΙΑΒΑΖΩ:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/athena-andreadis-phd/yes-virginia-hellenes-hav_b_801379.html

Athena Andreadis

December 30, 2010

The holiday lasts two weeks, from December 25 to January 6. At the three punctuation points (Christmas, New Year's, Epiphany) children make the rounds of the neighborhood houses, singing songs called kálanda. These remain unchanged from the Byzantine era; they're different for each of the three days and the kids sing them to the accompaniment of hand-held metal triangles -- and more rarely, small bodhrán drums. During these two weeks, people thought that mischievous spirits (kallikántzaroi) prowled the dark. 

These obvious descendants of fauns and satyrs take a solstice break from trying to cut down the world tree that holds up the earth. During the interruption the tree heals, leading to infinite annual repetitions.

[...] Epiphany, which rounds out the holiday, is also called The Lights. On that day the priests go to each house, blessing it with a sprig of basil dipped in water. Afterward, the priests from every coastal city, town or village throw a cross into the sea. Young men dive to retrieve it, and whoever brings it back is blessed. Just so did priests and priestesses of other religions also appease the oldest goddess of all -- Tiamat, Thálassa -- by offering her rings and other treasure instead of crosses. The custom was retained by the Doges of Venice, the city state that owed its existence to the sea.

A few years ago Mr. Snacho and I found ourselves in Tarpon Springs, Florida, at the turn of the year. The city was founded by sponge divers from the island of Kálymnos. They still throw the cross into the sea. Young men still compete for the honor of retrieving it. And I, an exile by choice who's often homesick for the place I left almost forty years ago, wept at the sight. 

Epiphany. Tarpon Springs, Florida