He saddles and horseshoes his horse in the night, His mother had him, she took care of him while he was very young, The dancers, surrendering to the music, had their eyes closed.Ĭonstantine the little one, little Constantine, A small group of men and women, clutching the holy icons of Greek Orthodox saints, was dancing and twirling around the floor under the sound of the instruments: a Thracian lyra, a gaida, a tambourine. The room was dimly lit, illuminated only by a weak yellow light bulb and the flames from the fireplace. Glimpses of an Ancient Fire-Walking Ritual in Northern Greeceīurning coal is scattered on the floor in preparation for a fire-walking ceremony.Credit. On Tue, Feb 2, 2021, at 2:02 PM, David Bilides wrote: Today, 40 years later, that area is a stronghold of the Islamist hard-liners in Tunisia. When I tried to ask my co-workers what I had witnessed, they refused to talk about what I had witnessed. We slept on the ground with thousands(?) of men, and then returned to the office by bus the next AM. Shortly thereafter, as the bonfire died, the dancers ceased self-flagellation, and began barefoot hot-coal walking: I did NOT try to verify the coals were hot. Since I saw NO blood, I suspected these were the "spineLESS" variety, and stepped out of the 'spectator circle' to pick up a broken-off piece, and was promptly bleeding from MULTIPLE sites. Then, as I edged forward thru the circle of onlookers, I realized the dancers were flagellating their shoulders and backs swinging Prickly Pear cactus 'branches'. Great fotos! In 1981 we were Peace Corps volunteers in Tunisia, and the old 'gardien' of our office took me to a HUGE gathering of men on a deserted field near Tabarka, where I watched hundreds(?) of men 'dance' around a bonfire. On Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 7:04:07 PM EST, Bryn Hammarstrom > wrote: National Geographic short film on the custom (though could've done without the African style drumming in the background)Ī lot has been written about the Anastenaria over the years - in English, can recommend Loring Danforth's Firewalking and Religious Healing. More old footage - there is a bit of disjoint between the (somewhat sensationalized) English narration and the actual clips shown and is not a the same as the Greek subtitles - but the actual footage is amazing On Tue, at 10:42 PM joe graziosi > wrote:ġ968 documentary (warning: vivid but short take on ritual sacrifice) We're still working on the website but it'll all be available to peruse soon, hopefully! Thanks for all this, Joe! When I was digitizing and cataloguing James Notopoulos's field recordings from 1952-1953, I found audio recordings of some Anastenaria as well as a Greek radio documentary. Subject: Re: Glimpses of an Ancient Fire-Walking Ritual in Northern Greece
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