Our Summer Saint. (2

Saint Paraskevi has a small church dedicated to her in the valley below  the ruins of the great temple  to the sea god, mighty Poseidon, often depicted trident aloft
arising from the churning waves

Saint Paraskevi was known as the Great Virgin Martyr of Rome

She suffered enough for a dozen lifetimes and never lost her faith.

  Not for the faint of heart.

- She was tortured with a steel helmet lined with nails

-Was hung by her hair and had her limbs seared with torches

- Immersed into a kettle of  boiling oil and tar

- Thrown into a pit with a large snake

- Placed in a kettle of oil and tar again

- Tied and beaten and a large rock placed on her chest

- Beaten

And having survived unscathed through all these trials and tribulations she was decapitated.

She is usually depicted in her icons holding a pair of eyes as she is the protector and healer of the eyes.  Parts of her skull and other relics are held in Moni Petraki in Athens, Monasteries on Mount Athos and Santorini.

The little church here in our neighbourhood celebrates on July 26th.  The church has two services, one on the evening of the 25th and on the morning of the 26th.  Both are very well attended.  Many bring holy loaves to be blessed and handed out after the services and those named after her, Paraskevi (female) or Paraskevas (male) will bring trays of cakes and sweets to share with the congregation.

I usually make five sweet loaves called 'artos' and take them down in a big wicker basket lined with a clean white cloth, alongside a bottle of oil for the wicks in the church, a bottle of communion wine and candles which are poked into the bread and lit when the blessing takes place.

We brought nothing with us this year because of my broken finger.  I made sure the grandchildren received big hunks of cinnamon smelling bread and they had some jelly sweets and custard type cakes pressed on them by some motherly Yiayias eager to share their boxes of  goodies.

Walking down to the church amongst the cyprus trees

Sharing out the bread after the service

Lighting a candle

 A friend of

 ours, an athiest, always goes first to the church to light a candle as soon as he arrives on the island. He attends both services, standing outside, though says he doesn't listen to the priest. He is just there to honour the saint. One day I'll learn the rest of his story.

Her church is

 always whitewashed before the fiesta and in recent years the courtyard has been cemented and half a dozen benches put in around the wall.  Most of the worshippers will stand up outside or sit outside in the extra chairs provided.  Inside the space is tiny.

This year we took the grandchildren in the early morning and only made it in time to catch the last few words.  Perfect timing for me.  But it doesn't matter if you aren't there from 7am (when I heard the bells ring out, breaking our rural silence).   We weren't the last to arrive.  You come to light a candle, kiss the icon, maybe hear some of the service, and to see and be seen.

We always spend more time greeting friends and neighbours in hushed voices and surveying the crowd gathered under the cyprus trees and the brilliant pink bougainvillia.  The bougainvillia and a leafy vine of some sort are  trained over the tiled canopy in the courtyard giving very welcome shade even at 9 oclock in the morning.

  

Down below beside the sea is our local Vagionia beach.  On the hill above is Paradise Taverna.  These are where everyone will head to after church.  Families go up to the taverna to dine under the vines, eating spit roast chunks of pork known as 'kontosouvli'.    Those seeking an all night 'glendi' (revelry) with whole roast pork and live music head down to the beach.

26th July - another saint, another fiesta

26th July in the Orthodox calendar is the fiesta of Saint Paraskevi. 

The little church just below the road on the way down to Vayionia bay is dedicated to her.  On the banks of the road you see three white crosses, now freshly white washed and the church is surrounded by seven tall cyprus trees.  The cyprus tree was a symbol of mourning which is why  they have been planted in Greek cemetaries.  Small churches like this one  often have a cypress tree or two looming over them.


Church in its everyday state

The service has started.  The evening service began at 7.30pm. I heard the church bells ring out.   People come at any time, sometimes to just light a candle but most stay till the end to listen to the liturgy and then to receive a piece of blessed bread and get some of the artos (sweet bread).  These are made by the local housewives or can be ordered from the baker.  The bread comes in a large basket covered with a nice white cloth, 5 loaves at a time.  They represent the miracle of the 5 loaves and two fish with which Christ fed the 5,000.  These are taken to the church at the beginning of the service.  Small brown beeswax candles are pushed into the loaves and during the ceremony they are blessed by the priest and then cut up and handed out afterwards along with any cakes or sweets brought by the 

congregation.  There is usually a rush to get a slice of everything and handbags are filled up for those at home.

 The baskets with their nice white cloths and the five loaves outside the door of the church.  In the basket along with the loaves we also place a small bottle of olive oil for the lamps in the church, a bottle of the sweet red communal wine, a packet of incense, a small packet of charcoal which is used to light the incense (livani in greek) and  a list of our dear departed whose names are read out by the priest.

The church is small so most of the congregation sit or stand outside.

After the evening service everyone goes off to celebrate.  Down at Vayionia Bay they have rented enough chairs and tables to fill  the waterfront and a live band plays popular greek music till the small hours.   Up at the hilltop Paradise taverna Kiki  is preparing 'kondosouvli', chunks of pork with onions, tomato and green peppers threaded onto a spit and grilled over hot coals.

Every house in the neighbourhood is occupied for this fete.  The large family who own most of the land and houses around us have their own tradition and gather for a feast of snails.  

Agia Paraskevi is a popular  saint.  The owners of  many of the houses in this area live in Athens and come only for fiestas and big holidays.    On arrival in Poros one of the first things they do will be to visit the church and light a candle.

The snails must be cleaned then soaked to get them to emerge from their shells.  Any that don't are thrown away.  They are boiled till tender, then the top is cut off each one, one-by-endless-one.   By doing this you make a second airway so the inside can be sucked out.  Then the sauce is prepared with lots of garlic, fresh tomatoes and onions and then the snails are added to the sauce and stewed.  Suck, slurp and hopefully you don't get a sudden surprise as it unexpectedly slips straight down your gullet.

July is a popular month for fiestas (and siestas!).

25th July .. St Anne (26th in the Catholic church)

27th July  .. Agios Panteleimonos