It's been a whole year since I've moved back to my hometown!!
I never really understood all this fuss about one's name day, because i don't have one. My name is just Eva, not Evaggelia as most Greeks would expect, just plain Eva. To kids at primary school, it seemed so preposterous that Eva didn't derive from Evaggelia, let alone the fact that I didn't have a name day at all! To me it seemed normal of course, because neither my father, Kimon, nor my sis, Ira, had one! In our family, my mum was the odd one out, and her persistence to celebrate her name caused giggling and teasing on our side. We always attacked the matter with comments on people's vanity and self-absorption
Anyway, tomorrow's my mum's name day. Her name's Sofia and it happens to be the name of the saint - protector of the church near our house. It's sort of a big deal in the neighbourhood, cause a "panigiri", a celebration, takes place, the roads close to cars and pretty much everybody goes there, even if it's just to have a look and check who's there. It's so unoriginal that such celebrations started of for religious purposes and ended up being the equivalent of a night time street market, far from being described as traditional! What's interesting though is that I still go the celebration every damn year!
I have no clue why I keep following this family tradition. In the surface, lies the fact that I do it to please my mother, but I reckon that the truth is hidden deeper inside. The word itself, panigiri, has a nice ring to it to my ears. I remember that every year since we moved to New Psyhiko when I was 4, I anticipated these September evenings when my parents and grandmother would take me to the main square where all those colourful and shiny things would be waiting for me on the stalls! The streets would be crowded, the bells would be tolling, I'd meet my friends, I'd eat barbeque'd sweetcorn with tons of salt and I'd avoid cotton candy just because we call this disgusting to me thing "old woman's hair" in Greek!! There I'd come across beggars with mutilated arms or legs and my mum or dad would cover my eyes so I wouldn't see their scars. I remember I'd always try and peep without them finding out, just to understand how could there be anything that I shouldn't look at in such a wonderfully chaotic place. It was probably one of the first times when I actually realised that knowing something might cause you more pain than ignoring it.
And then, there were all the jolly little things and wonders; I used to collect all sorts of these tiny colourful glass miniatures of animals. Me and my sis would call them "little glasses" and we'd roam the streets of the panigiri like crazy in search of them! Once, having spent all our money on them (and on plastic crap of all kinds) we planned a whole cheeky plot to manage to get our hands on another one without the guys behind the stall noticing. And yeah, we did succeed. Who can claim that they never ever snatched anything when they were kids? Haha!
Do you remember the boat swings?? Oh I sure hope you do!! Because this celebration wouldn't mean anything to me without them. I'd go nuts when on them, and would try my hardest to go higher and faster than all the other little boats in the row!!
Where are these fuckin' boats now huh? Where are the "little glasses"? Where are all the pretty shiny plastic crap and where are my schoolmates? Ok, truth is I'm still best friends with 2 of them, and I hang out with another 2 at least, but they'd never come to Aghia Sofia's square tomorrow, not even if I begged them too!! And I understand why; all this decadence of our childhood years right in our face is a bit too much sometimes. Not even the mutilated beggars are there anymore! Athens has changed so much from when I was still at school, of course. And then I was gone for another 7 years, wasn't I? And even though I understand how impossible it is for central Athens or Eksarxia to stay as I remember them to be, I still can't swallow it how much a small suburb like New Psyhiko has changed from when I was growing up here. It's unrecognisable to me and I don't feel it like home anymore. Not really, no.
But, as I said, I still go to the panigiri every September. Along with my parents that is. And my dad buys me barbeque'd sweetcorn with tons of salt! And I still get loads of it stack between my teeth, just like I did back then! :) It's the yearning for the past that brings me back.
So, this is where I still live after all.
I never really understood all this fuss about one's name day, because i don't have one. My name is just Eva, not Evaggelia as most Greeks would expect, just plain Eva. To kids at primary school, it seemed so preposterous that Eva didn't derive from Evaggelia, let alone the fact that I didn't have a name day at all! To me it seemed normal of course, because neither my father, Kimon, nor my sis, Ira, had one! In our family, my mum was the odd one out, and her persistence to celebrate her name caused giggling and teasing on our side. We always attacked the matter with comments on people's vanity and self-absorption
Anyway, tomorrow's my mum's name day. Her name's Sofia and it happens to be the name of the saint - protector of the church near our house. It's sort of a big deal in the neighbourhood, cause a "panigiri", a celebration, takes place, the roads close to cars and pretty much everybody goes there, even if it's just to have a look and check who's there. It's so unoriginal that such celebrations started of for religious purposes and ended up being the equivalent of a night time street market, far from being described as traditional! What's interesting though is that I still go the celebration every damn year!
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| φρέσκο γλυκό καλαμποκάκι! |
I have no clue why I keep following this family tradition. In the surface, lies the fact that I do it to please my mother, but I reckon that the truth is hidden deeper inside. The word itself, panigiri, has a nice ring to it to my ears. I remember that every year since we moved to New Psyhiko when I was 4, I anticipated these September evenings when my parents and grandmother would take me to the main square where all those colourful and shiny things would be waiting for me on the stalls! The streets would be crowded, the bells would be tolling, I'd meet my friends, I'd eat barbeque'd sweetcorn with tons of salt and I'd avoid cotton candy just because we call this disgusting to me thing "old woman's hair" in Greek!! There I'd come across beggars with mutilated arms or legs and my mum or dad would cover my eyes so I wouldn't see their scars. I remember I'd always try and peep without them finding out, just to understand how could there be anything that I shouldn't look at in such a wonderfully chaotic place. It was probably one of the first times when I actually realised that knowing something might cause you more pain than ignoring it.
And then, there were all the jolly little things and wonders; I used to collect all sorts of these tiny colourful glass miniatures of animals. Me and my sis would call them "little glasses" and we'd roam the streets of the panigiri like crazy in search of them! Once, having spent all our money on them (and on plastic crap of all kinds) we planned a whole cheeky plot to manage to get our hands on another one without the guys behind the stall noticing. And yeah, we did succeed. Who can claim that they never ever snatched anything when they were kids? Haha!
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| ok, these are English and I hate it but I didn't find any metal ones! |
Where are these fuckin' boats now huh? Where are the "little glasses"? Where are all the pretty shiny plastic crap and where are my schoolmates? Ok, truth is I'm still best friends with 2 of them, and I hang out with another 2 at least, but they'd never come to Aghia Sofia's square tomorrow, not even if I begged them too!! And I understand why; all this decadence of our childhood years right in our face is a bit too much sometimes. Not even the mutilated beggars are there anymore! Athens has changed so much from when I was still at school, of course. And then I was gone for another 7 years, wasn't I? And even though I understand how impossible it is for central Athens or Eksarxia to stay as I remember them to be, I still can't swallow it how much a small suburb like New Psyhiko has changed from when I was growing up here. It's unrecognisable to me and I don't feel it like home anymore. Not really, no.
But, as I said, I still go to the panigiri every September. Along with my parents that is. And my dad buys me barbeque'd sweetcorn with tons of salt! And I still get loads of it stack between my teeth, just like I did back then! :) It's the yearning for the past that brings me back.
So, this is where I still live after all.
