Well, the Brits have voted – and they want out. Having been through a version of this in Greece last summer, I followed the debate with interest, without feeling in any way qualified to have an opinion about it. We decided to stay in – but Greeks see things from a totally different perspective, both historical and geopolitical. Was it the right thing to do for us? It is a costly solution, and there are still arguments against it.
L’union fait la force, as the French say. There is strength in numbers. We live in very bizarre, unsettled times. You would think we’d welcome a haven, a problem-solving support group, protection against common enemies. But no, we seem unable to see beyond our particular interests – you have to work together to make a haven.
Of course, Europe has not been an unqualified success – far from it. The lack of leadership as a whole is appalling. Politicians have a peculiar affinity for irrelevance. The minute someone accedes to office, he seems to lose sight of reality, and of the practicalities of life. Or is it that politics attract precisely this type of person, because people who like getting things done cannot tolerate the endless red tape and manipulation needed? Difficult to say and of course, I’m generalizing here.
Be that as it may, Brussels has been putting far too much effort on stuff such as banning the use of chlorophyll in Italian olives and unpasteurized milk in French cheese, and not nearly enough on getting a consensus on serious fiscal and legal matters, as well as on major problems such as the recent refugee crisis. It’s no wonder people are fed up. And I am one of them – I think their handling of the Greek crisis was atrocious (even, I hasten to add, if the Greeks were at fault as well.)
However, to my mind, when something is broken one should try to fix it, not scupper it.
The debate will go on, hopefully on a higher level than before. I must say I found the discussions before the referendum mostly disappointing – a lot of threats, scare-mongering and unsupported assertions on both sides. There is no doubt that this whole issue has caused a rift in England – but, on the plus side, it will shake things up, and perhaps some good will come of it (for all, not just the English.)
However, for the western world as a whole, I cannot help but feel this is a defeat – proving once again mankind’s inability to cooperate with one another.
We are going into unknown territory. What next, a Frexit? A Spainexit? Will Greece be pushed out now? Scotland and Catalonia want independence – maybe we’ll go back to city states like in Ancient Greece, when Athens and Sparta spent their time fighting each other. Or Italy before Garibaldi?
For those of you interested in my artistic endeavors, Charlie O’Shields very kindly invited me (or did I invite myself – I can’t remember) to do a guest post on his funky blog, Doodlewash.
I strongly urge everyone to check it out: it’s a sunny, cheerful place where Charlie posts his own lovely sketches but also showcases a variety of other artists.
My name is Marina, but I’m known as M. L. Kappa on my blog, and I live in Athens, Greece. (you can also follow me on Instagram & Pinterest!). Since I was a kid, I’ve loved drawing and painting and other arty stuff, such as batik, clay and mosaics. I’ve had no formal training apart from school art class, but I always like to have a project on the go.
Some fail dismally, like a mosaic I made with lovely sea glass, painstakingly collected on the beach, only I didn’t cement it properly and the pieces started falling out! I now have discovered many artists through Charlie’s guest posts, and I’ve been getting tips and inspiration from them.
Camille de Fleurville is running a poetry series on her fascinating blog, Sketches and Vignettes from La Dordogne. She very kindly asked me to contribute and I chose a poem by one of the greatest Greek poets, Constantine Cavafy. Do pop over to take a look.
I follow it with the utmost assiduity: politics, economy, society, refugees, literature, Ancient Greece, Grecian Islands, myths, history, traditions -her blog is always full of information. Its full name is “Letters from Athens – A blog about life and times in Greece”.
Today, she invites us to read or re-read a poem by Constantin Cavafy, which sounds oddly relevant to our times.
C.P. Cavafy is widely considered the most distinguished Greek poet of the twentieth century. He was born in 1863 in Alexandria, Egypt, where his Greek parents had settled in the mid-1850s.
During his lifetime Cavafy was an obscure poet, living in relative seclusion and publishing little of his work. A short collection of his poetry was privately printed in the early 1900s and reprinted with new verse a few years…
The borders are shut and tensions are running high in the refugee camps, as people become increasingly desperate about their future. A few days ago, in Souda on the island of Chios, refugees set fire to the rubbish skips as a protest. The fire spread and was only put out after a couple of hours by the fire brigade with the help of the police and the locals whose houses it threatened – but not before severely damaging two large tents used by NGOs and the UN High Comissioner for Refugees, some offices and a load of equipment. One of the firemen was injured.
In the sprawling border camp of Idomeni, in Northern Greece, police had to use tear gas to break up clashes between rival groups of rock-throwing Pakistani and Afghan migrants; incidents of violence along ethnic lines have become a daily reality. At Elliniko camp in Athens, hundreds of people, mostly Afghans, refused to eat because of the quality of the food and because of their belief that Syrians are receiving preferential treatment at their expense.
There are still nearly 60,000 refugees stranded in Greece, although the flow from Turkey has abated since the deal in March between Brussels and Ankara. However, it has not lessened as much as shifted – they have now gone back to trying to reach Italy from Libya, and hundreds have drowned in the Mediterranean in the last few weeks (this route is longer and more dangerous). In total there have been 10,000 deaths in the Mediterranean since January of 2014.
Meanwhile, tireless and feisty volunteers are continuing to give their all to help their fellow man. The Dirty Girls of Lesvos (see previous post, here) have saved more than 10,000 blankets from ending up in a landfill. Hearing the Idomeni camp was to be emptied, they came over and collected around 15 tons of bedding, to clean and re-distribute to other camps. Alison Terry-Evans says: ‘A clean blanket is a small way for people to have a little dignity in an underserved situation.’
Other volunteers are bringing water to camps where there is none; some deal with vulnerable groups; some with cleanliness; some with training and education of the refugees. Some set up WiFi in the camps (like Ilias Papadopoulos or Ben Ridge) or lay wooden floors in the tents, paid for out their own pocket.
Take a look at the video below, and you will see why Iokasti Nikolaidi spent three months cooking, together with up to 15 of her friends, on the island of Samos. Her husband, a fireman, was upset with the deaths he was witnessing. Iokasti was on maternity leave, having just given birth to her fourth child, and had not been out and about. When she went with him to see the hundreds of desperate, dispossessed, exhausted people, and especially the crying kids, she wanted to help. ‘Why don’t you cook something?’ said her husband.
Iokasti called her friends; they started with 30 portions, and slowly built up, with the help of other women, to their record – 4,380 portions one day! Spurred on by a photo of her holding a sick baby – she was initially angry with the photographer for taking it – volunteers from England and the rest of Europe came to help, and people sent money and supplies. Her worst nightmare: when the food finished, and the last people in the endless lines got none, after having waited for hours. This was her last thought when falling into bed at night: ‘If we don’t cook tomorrow, these people won’t eat.’
Head over to Charlie’s DOODLEWASH blog, to see the fantastic food a whole bunch of artists made for his dinner party! There’s something for all tastes.
This month’s adventure was a truly fabulous event, as artists from around the globe came together for a very unique gathering called a #DoodlewashDinner Party! Over 60 talented doodlewashers showed up with their culinary creations! And we were even visited by some intriguing surprise guests (thanks Jill!) and treated to a fabulous food painting video (thanks Bogdan!).
Check out the Featured Culinary Artists’ images below and click any one to scroll through the gallery of artists. If you see someone new at the party you’d love to keep up with, just click the follow link under their art! It was truly an amazing gathering, so thanks to everyone who participated! (I was only able to select a single dish per artist for this gallery, but you’ll find many more on Instagram and on WordPress!) If I missed your hashtag and failed to include you in the gallery below, or misspelled your name…
Now that the meat-eating revel of Easter is over, people’s thoughts are turning towards showing up on the beach in a swimsuit. New season tomatoes are making their appearance, so what better than a traditional horiatiki salad, made with tomatoes, cucumber, thinly sliced onions and peppers, and cubes of feta cheese. A bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of oregano, and you’ve got a light, nutritious lunch.
And for something more substantial, many turn to fish.
Fried white bait or little red mullet are delicious, but not particularly slimming – the best is a whole fish, simply grilled and accompanied by olive oil beaten with plenty of aromatic lemon juice.
When fish is fresh, sauces disguise its flavor, so unless you are in some fancy restaurant, you will usually get your fish plain. And yes, cooked with the head on, seeing as the best bits are the cheeks and the nape of the neck. A lot of non-Greeks find this gross, but it’s not as gross as another delicacy, the head of the Easter spit-roasted lamb! (from which I, personally, refrain.)
Having said that Greeks mostly eat their fish without sauce, I discovered that the ancients had invented a concoction called garum, a fermented fish sauce used as a condiment in the cuisines of Ancient Greece, Rome, and Byzantium. It probably originated in Carthage, and Plato was the first to describe its disagreeable ‘rotten’ smell.
The preparation of garum is described in Roman and Byzantine texts. Small fish, left whole with their intestines, were mashed with salt and set to ferment in the sun. The mixture was occasionally stirred with a stick and finally filtered through layers of fine cloth, to make a condiment used to flavor meat and game, as well as fish and seafood.
Archaeological digs have brought to light garum production plants on the coast of North Africa, Portugal and elsewhere on the Mediterranean. These were placed far from inhabited areas because the smell was horrendous! The finished product, however, was supposed to have a pleasant, spicy odor. Garum was also known as liquamen, or hallex, and prices varied according to quality.
Apparently the nearest equivalent we have nowadays is Worcestershire sauce.
How’s that for the irrelevant information of the day?
Celebrated by even the most secular of Greeks, Easter is for us the biggest holiday of the year. Yes, even bigger than Christmas. Everyone joins in the church rituals and there are lots of other traditions as well. To top it all, this year Greek Easter falls on the first of May, which is, in itself, another popular holiday.
I thought I’d begin by explaining why Easter is a ‘mobile’ holiday: the determination of the date of Easter is governed by a computation based on the vernal equinox (the point at which the ecliptic and the celestial equators intersect) and the phase of the moon. According to the ruling of the First Ecumenical Synod in 325, Easter should fall on the Sunday which follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox (invariably, March 21). If the full moon happens to fall on a Sunday, Easter is observed the following Sunday.
These complicated calculations do not always end up with the same Easter Sunday for all Christian churches, for the simple reason the churches use different calendars: Greek Orthodox use the Julian Calendar and western churches the Gregorian.
Easter preparations begin on Holy Thursday when the traditional Easter bread, τσουρέκι (tsoureki), is baked. Tsoureki is like a brioche or challah bread in the shape of a plait and is eaten all year round. Some people also bake Πασχαλινά κουλουράκια (pashalina koulourakia – Easter cookies). Eggs are dyed red, to symbolize the color of life and the blood of Christ) and sometimes they are incorporated for decoration in the tsoureki. In the evening, church services include the reading of the 12 Gospels.
Kids love shaping these
Holy Friday is a day or mourning. Traditionally, women and children take flowers to the church to decorate the symbolic bier of Christ, the Epitaphios. The Service of Lamentation mourns the death of Christ and the bier, lavishly adorned with flowers and bearing the image of Christ, is carried on the shoulders of the faithful in a procession through the community to the cemetery, and back. All the congregation follows, carrying candles and repeating the refrain of a beautiful Byzantine hymn. The candles on Holy Friday are yellow, made of natural beeswax.
On Holy Saturday, the Eternal Flame is brought to Greece by military jet from Jerusalem and is distributed to waiting priests who carry it to their local churches.
In the morning, preparations begin for next day’s Easter feast. Dishes that can be prepared in advance are made, and the traditional μαγειρίτσα (magiritsa) soup is prepared, which will be eaten after the midnight service, to break the Lenten fast.
At night everyone, including children, attends the midnight Service of the Resurrection, each holding a white candle. Traditionally, children are given the candle by their godparents, and many are lavishly decorated. Churches fill to overflowing and most people gather outside where the service is broadcast by loudspeaker. Anticipation mounts; shortly before midnight, all lights are extinguished and churches are lit only by the Eternal Flame on the altar. When midnight sounds, the Priest calls out “Christos Anesti” (Christ is risen), and passes the flame, the light of the Resurrection, to those nearest him. The flame is then passed from person to person, and soon the church and courtyard are filled with flickering candlelight. The night air is filled with the singing of the Byzantine Chant “Christos Anesti,” and kisses and wishes are exchanged. The traditional exchange is ‘Χριστός Ανεστη’ (Christos Anesti – Christ is risen) answered by ‘Αληθώς Ανέστη’ (Alithos Anesti – He is truly risen). As is the custom, as soon as “Christos Anesti” is called out, church bells ring joyously non-stop, ships in ports all over Greece sound their horns, floodlights are lit on large buildings, and great and small displays of fireworks and noisemakers are set off. Cars passing by on the road also honk loudly.
People then carry the Eternal Flame home. The sight of hundreds of candle flames moving from churches to homes on that night is beautiful, indeed.
Once home, the flame from the candle is used to make the sign of the cross on the top of the door frame in smoke. The mark is left there throughout the year, to symbolize that the light of the Resurrection has blessed the home. The candles are then put on the table for the midnight meal. Everyone gathers around the table to break the fast; the feast includes magiritsa soup, tsoureki, and the red eggs. But before the eggs are eaten, there’s a traditional game to be played: ‘τσούγκρισμα’ (tsougrisma) – holding your egg, you tap the end against the end of your opponent’s egg, trying to crack it. It’s a game enjoyed by children and adults alike. Eggs are often dyed in large quantities since the game continues on the next day with more friends and family. In large gatherings, someone can usually be found cheating with a wooden egg!
At dawn on Easter Sunday, spits are set to work, since all over the countryside, the menu of the day is whole spit-roasted lamb or kid, to represent the Lamb of God. Also on the spit is another delicacy, kokoretsi, seasoned lamb or goat organ meat, wrapped in caul fat and then in yards of cleaned intestines. This recipe originated from the need to use up all parts of the lamb that was slaughtered for Easter, and not let any go to waste (the rest being used in the magiritsa soup). Delicious to many people in the Balkans, but definitely an acquired taste…Some people prefer lamb or kid dishes grilled or baked in the oven, according to various local recipes. With these come all the trimmings, like roast potatoes and salads, with ouzo, beer and wine flowing freely. Preparations for the meal turn into festive celebrations even before the eating begins. These gatherings of family and friends often last all day and sometimes long into the night.
Many places in Greece have their own Easter traditions, such as the ‘rocket war’ of Chios, and special celebrations on Corfu, which are particularly impressive. Easter in Corfu is a huge festival, in which various components come together harmoniously: the Orthodox Christian faith, pagan traditions, the powerful presence of Saint Spiridon, the Roman Catholic community, the Venetian influence, genuine Corfiot humor, the music of the philharmonic bands and of course, the spring atmosphere.
And finally, although I doubt many of you will attempt it but – just for the fun of it – here’s a recipe on how to roast a whole lamb on the spit. Greek Easter is not ideal for vegans, nor for the faint-hearted!
Some days ago Pope Francis made a surprise visit to the island of Lesvos.
The Pope was met at Mytilini airport by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of the world’s Orthodox Christians, and Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos.
The three religious leaders visited the refugee camp at Moria which holds around 3.000 people.
In his speech at the camp, Patriarch Bartholomew told the residents: “The world has not forgotten you. The world will be judged by the way it has treated you.” Archbishop Ieronymos decried “the bankruptcy of humanity and solidarity” that Europe has shown migrants lately. Pope Francis called on the international community to respond to the crisis “in a way worthy of our common humanity.”
The three religious leaders then signed a declaration urging the international community to protect human lives and extend temporary asylum to those in need.
In a symbolic gesture, the Pope took 12 refugees back with him to the Vatican.
In 2013, the Pope had made a similar trip to the island of Lampedusa, to visit the refugees arriving there from Libya.
Visits such as these serve to highlight this humanitarian disaster, as do visits from celebrities. They have no political clout; the Vatican was at pains to point out the Pope’s visit was “humanitarian and religious in nature.”
One question remains – why do Muslim leaders not feel the need to make similar gestures? After all, most of these refugees are Muslims who could derive a lot of comfort from such a visit.
The response of ordinary Muslims to the refugee crisis has been great. Surrounding countries host the bulk of the Syrian refugee population. Many of the neighbouring countries – Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt – have shown remarkable spirit in taking, altogether, millions of refugees. Unfortunately, some of the most affluent Muslim countries have not followed suit.
I also find it strange that Muslim leaders are not more concerned in showing the world that Muslims are not necessarily terrorists, a self-evident fact which is getting buried by the fear generated by the proliferation of Islamist terrorist attacks. Perhaps there is something here I don’t know – I would welcome any feedback anyone might have on the subject.
Charity can be a double-edged sword, especially when practiced by people who are celebrities. It is true that their notoriety helps to highlight the issue they’re concerned with and bring it to the attention of the public, but how much difference does it make in actual fact? And how much of it is also used for their own advancement, the feeding of their own fame?
The latest example of this is Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s espousal of the refugee crisis. He thought it a good idea (“art”?) to take a photo of himself lying on a pebbly beach, recreating the image of drowned infant Alan Kurdi that in 2015 became the defining symbol of the plight of Syria’s refugees.
This was seen as tasteless by many, as was his suggestion that high-profile celebrities don thermal blankets and take selfies at a gala event for the Cinema for Peace, for which he also wrapped the columns of Berlin’s Konzerthaus with 14,000 salvaged refugee life vests on Feb. 13.
At Idomeni camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, the dissident artist set up a piano in the middle of a muddy field and invited aspiring Syrian pianist Nour Al Khzam, from the city Deirez Zor, Syria, to play it.
The photographs of this event are a bit incongruous, since a light drizzle necessitated someone to hold a piece of plastic over girl and piano. The reviews I read were mixed – some characterized the event as ‘beautiful’ some as ‘ridiculous’.
It’s difficult to gauge the overall improvement in the victims’ situation resulting from such antics. If you’re stuck in a camp, cold and wet and uncertain about your future, are you overjoyed to see Angelina Jolie (another visiting celebrity), or would you rather have a hot meal?
That is why I admire people offering help on the ground, as it were. Small gestures sometimes, but which make a big difference. One would not even hear of them, were it not for some journalists seeking out these stories and writing about them.
Free Wi-Fi at Idomeni
One such article by journalist Lina Giannarou, written for the Kathimerini daily paper, tells of Ilias Papadopoulos, who decided to provide free Wi-Fi for the refugees trapped at Idomeni, on the Greek frontier. The border has been shut, these people are desperate for news, they need to communicate with their families; some have been separated from relatives on the way and want to look for them through social media.
Ilias Papadopoulos, a Greek electrical engineer who lives in Thessaloniki, a city about an hour’s drive south of Idomeni, built the necessary infrastructure inside an old trailer donated by the church in September 2015. He spent more than €5000 of his own money.
“I had the idea for free Wi-Fi at the beginning,” said Papadopoulos, who first went to the camp in August 2015 to see how he could help. “People had mobile phones, but no roaming, so they could not use them. They couldn’t communicate with their families.” He also found out hotels were asking people €5 to recharge their phones, so he showed up with large professional 80-slot plug boards, which he powered first with batteries and later using generators. In order to organize internet access, since phone signals in the mountainous area are weak, he borrowed two telephone lines from a local Evzone (army) unit and connected wirelessly to Idomeni.
Papadopoulos setting up. Photo from Mashable.com
Today his installation covers about 2/3 of the camp area. There’s still a problem, since the network’s capacity is for up to 900 simultaneous users, while thousands are trying to connect at any given moment. But, if you go near one of the eight antennas or try late at night, it’s easier. Using the network is free, but it is controlled – Ilias has blocked sites that are unsuitable for children or connected to criminal activities. He is now proposing to the authorities and the NGOs to use his network for information purposes, since he’s noticed a lot of the refugees don’t know what their options are and are still hoping the border will open soon.
When the refugees arrive on Lesvos in unstable, overcrowded boats, they are drenched with sea water. They are given new clothes and their perfectly good, but wet clothes are discarded and have mostly been trashed , adding to the environmental problems of landfill on Lesvos. Now Dirty Girls collect the clothes and have them laundered at a commercial laundry. They are sorted and distributed so they can be reused. Because of monetary donations, from people all over the world who want to help, we have been able to recycle many thousands of items of clothing.
Sorting socks! Photo from their Facebook page
Dirty Girls is the brainchild of Alison Terry-Evans, an Australian who has been going to Lesvos for years. Alison saw the littered beaches as an opportunity to recycle and simultaneously provide a service.
Local volunteers gather the dirty clothes from the sand and rocks, place them in bags, label them, and leave them by the side of the road. Alison’s team picks them up, gets them washed and dried, and then distributes the garments to the camps and outposts cropping up along the coast. Even heavy-duty blankets and shoes are sanitized so they can be put to good use.
Alison has always loved doing laundry. She says: “Sorting for me has always been a near meditation; so much satisfaction for little actual elbow grease. And finding a mate for the odd sock or shoe is super satisfying. So visiting the huge washing and drying establishment, Ermes, owned and run by Peter Mylonas, was thrilling.”
Peter saw Alison collecting clothing on the beach and heading home to wash and dry. He generously offered his assistance, and the rest is history.
Everyone on Lesvos loves Dirty Girls: the locals, the arrivals, the NGOs. Alison keeps the washing machines spinning thanks to private contributions. Want to help? Find Dirty Girls of Lesvos on Facebook.
Piles of laundry. Photo from their Facebook page
Recycling to make bags for refugees
One of the often overlooked side effects of the refugee crisis in Europe is the massive amount of waste piling up on the islands at the frontline of the crisis.
Thousands of news arrivals are pouring onto the islands daily, leaving behind them on the beaches piles of rubber dinghies and thousands of life jackets.
Volunteers on the island of Lesbos have developed a novel approach to dealing with some of the waste by upcycling the rubber from the boats and the straps from the life vests into waterproof bags.
Twenty-four-year-old Amsterdam native Floor Nagler had been volunteering on the island helping people disembark from boats when she noticed a need for bags, since many people had lost theirs along the route.
Nagler brought some of the material back to Amsterdam, where she is studying textiles, and worked with a fellow Dutch artist until they up with a solution. Then they took the concept back to Lesvos where they held workshops outside the Moria reception center near the capital city, Mytilini.
The bags are made from one folded piece of discarded material from the boat, held together with rivets and clipped shut with buckles from life vests. The bags costs around $3 to make and can be assembled by hand.
Floor gives a demonstration. Photo Amos Chapple/RadioFreeEurope
This is not the first project that Nagler and others have set up in upcycling materials on the island that were once destined for landfills.
Back in January, Nagler was making mattresses out of the life jackets that were left behind. Along with a group of volunteers, she founded the It Works initiative to bring empowering skills to the refugees who arrive on the island.
You can watch Floor making her bags on YouTube, below:
Letters from Athens 