Maybe it is for this reason that when in Calabria we\nspeak about \u201cgreekness\u201d we never mean \u201ccolonization\u201d but we mean\n\u201cexchange\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historical context <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Despite the mythological tales, we can find first\ngreek evidences of settlement, starting from VIII century B.C when Greeks landed\nin masses of the calabrian coasts and founded such a large number of cities\nthat they created the \u200bMagna Grecia \u200b<\/em>(\u039c\u03b5\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u03b7 \u200b\n\u1f19\u03bb\u03bb\u03ac\u03c2). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Greek influence encompassed a very big area which\nextended beyond the Calabrean region, in which have been handed down a series\nof cultural, economic and social influences. In the city of \u200bKroton\u200b<\/em>, for example, many high level\ncultural figures left their traces through their teachings, such as the\nphilosof Pitagora who founded the pythagorean school where he taught religious,\nphilosophical and political knowledges, so much that the <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201ccrotonesi\u201d, people from Krotone city, are still\ncalled \u201cpitagorici\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article I would like to concentrate more on\nthe area I belong to: the southernmost of the italian peninsula, not to be too\ndispersive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The area of \u200bRhegion<\/em>\n(now Reggio Calabria) includes many villages which compose the \u201carea\ngrecanica\u201d. The majority of their names have maintained their hellenophone\nappellative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The area of \u200bBoves\u00eca\u200b<\/em>,\nnear Reggio Calabria, is considered the heart of the magno-greek culture, and\nuntil now it is still strong. This area extends along the \u200bAmendolea<\/em> river (Amendul\u00eca<\/em>\u200b Potam\u00f2,<\/em> to indicate an area full of\nalmond trees) that in the hellenic era was navigable, letting cross the\nvillages of \u200bGhorio di Roghudi\u200b<\/em>, \u200bBova\u200b<\/em>, \u200bGallician\u00f2, Roccaforte del greco <\/em>and Condofuri. \u200b<\/em>Besides the scenic beauty, these areas are\ncharacterized by legendary tales that remember the beliefs of the greek mythology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ghorio di Roghudi,\nis a small village built on the valley. It has been completely abandoned since\nthe 70s because of a violent flood. The name \u200bRoghudi \u200b<\/em>comes from \u200brogh\u00f2des<\/em>\nwhich means harsh. Around this area the shape of one rock gave rise to the myth\nthat the village was guarded by a dragon and some milk boilers that fed it.\nPeople from roghudi believed that the dragon was the guardian of a treasure and\nanyone who wanted it, would have to sacrifice a goat, a cat and a little baby,\neveryone male. No one over the centuries wanted to face this test. When a\nmalformed child was born in the village, rejected by his parents, he was taken\nby two men who carried out the test of courage. Both the goat and the cat were\nkilled, but when it was time for the child to be sacrificed, a sudden storm\ncaused the death of one of the two men, while the other surviving man was\npersecuted by the devil until his death\u200b. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\u200b \u200b<\/strong>rock of the dragon and Milk boilers (\u200bta vrastucia\u200b<\/em>) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the culinary greek traditions are still\ncarried on in the village of Bova(\u200b <\/strong>original name: Ch\u00f2ra tu Vua \u200b<\/em>which means city of the flock) that is considered\nthe capital of the greek culture in Italy. The legend says that this village\nwas founded by a queen who carried on the population there and made her first\nfootprint on the highest point of the rock. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still now, in Bova culinary and not traditions of ancient Greece became propriety of the autochthonous population. One of the most symbolic dishes in Bova is the \u200blestopitta <\/em>(the name comes from \u200blept\u00f2s\u200b<\/em>: thin and \u200bpita\u200b<\/em>: bread). It is very similar to greek pita but it’s fried and you can put inside local cheeses and sausages. During the Easter period the culinary tradition is accompanied by other symbols like the Musulupu (in greek \u201cmouthful of the wolf\u201d ): it is a not seasoned cheese made of sheep or goat milk and put into anthropomorphic forms, usually feminine figures that reclame the Mother Heart thanks to which people could get a good harvest. The drawings on it, done in a very greek style, symbolized the breast, the nipples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Musulupu is not a common cheese, but a ceremonial one,\nutilized during pythagorean mystery rituals, where fasting was practiced. In a\nfew words it wasn\u2019t, for ancient greek, like a real food to eat but a \u201csolid\ndrink\u201d that was neither satisfied nor nourished: the shape of the breast, like\na clock, was broken on time during the day and drunk little by little. For this reason it, specifically, represents\nthe Lenten season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Musulupu cheese <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another kind of food, sweets of the greek tradition,\ndone in the Easter period, are the Cudduraci<\/em>\nor \u200b\u2018Nguti <\/em>(\u200b <\/em>in greek \u200b\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b1\u03ba\u03b9\u03b1\u200b). They are simple biscuits made with butter,\nmodeled by hand, and brushed with egg. Then the \u200bPignolata <\/em>(\u200b <\/em>in greek\nLoukomades \u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2)\n\u200bthey are sweet pancakes\nmade from leavened and fried dough, soaked in honey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cudduraci and Pignolata <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can find many\nother hellenic traditions in the village of \u200bGallician\u00f2<\/em> too. This village is an open-air museum of the greek\ntradition, it is considered the \u200bAcropolis\nof the Magna Grecia\u200b<\/em>. As soon as you enter the village you can understand\nwhy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowadays this village is almost totally depopulated: the\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n inhabitants are 61 and the oldest ones still speak the\ngreek language of Calabria at their homes[1]<\/sup><\/a>. This shows how the inhabitants\nof Gallician\u00f2 were able to defend the greek culture despite the subsequentes\nsettlements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCalos irthete ode manacho stes oscie fortomene ascepono ce\nasce tragudia\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the predominance of the Catholic religion, in Gallician\u00f2 wa can find the \u200bPanagh\u00eca tis Elladas,<\/em> the church of the greek Madonna, still opened for workships and weddings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gallician\u00f2, fountain of Love \u201cC\u00e0nnalo tis Ag\u00e0pi\u201d In the village of Gallician\u00f2, we can also find the\nFountain of Love (To c\u00e0nnalo tis Ag\u00e0pi) that is so called because, in ancient\ntimes, engaged couples met here. Generally, when a boy decided to ask for the hand of\na girl he met at the fountain, he placed a log of charred wood in front of her\ndoor. If the family accepted the suitor, the log – called \u201c\u200bccippu\u201d<\/em> – was brought into the house at\nnight, otherwise the father of the family would roll it down the street. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite in Calabria the wedding ceremony follows the\ncatholic tradition, it also follows some of not religious and greek traditions\nbefore the ceremony in church. In some of the small calabrian villages the\nweddings are celebrated through ancient rituals. Many times before the future\nwife decides to get married, her family provides to buy all the necessary\nthings for the house of the couple, above all the trousseau! One or two days\nbefore the wedding date, there is the bed ritual: the future couple invite\ntheir relatives and close friends in their future home, and ONLY the feminine\nand MARRIED woman prepare, for the first time the bed of the future couple\n(maybe in the greek tradition only single girls are allowed to do it). <\/p>\n\n\n\n During this ceremony, the guests put money inside the\nbed, to wish a richness future to the lovers. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another curiosity in common with the greek land, which\nI\u2019m not very sure that derives from there, is the belief in \u200bMalocchio\u200b<\/em>, that in Greece is called \u200bMatiasma\u200b<\/em>. It is one of the most ancient\npopular traditions, which deals with the superstition of the power of the gaze\nto produce evil effects on the person being looked at. Sometimes there is a\nrelative or a ederly neighbor who does the ritual to remove the malocchio\nbelieved to be generated by false compliments dictated by envy for their\nbeauty, their work, for their children and many, many other reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The person who, in a period of his life, feels a lot\nof bad energy or unlucky on him, goes to get the malocchio removed, or in case\nhe is physically far from this person, the person who removes the malocchio can\nuse one of his personal items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically, she puts water in a plate and recites\nseveral prayers (from the Christian religion), makes the sign of the cross\nthree times, on the person\u2019s head and on the plate. Then she puts some drops of\noil into the plate with water and, if the drops remain intact, the malocchio is\ngone and the ritual finished. Otherwise it could repeat the procedure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An old woman doing the ritual of removing malocchio <\/p>\n\n\n\n The malocchio ritual procedure could be teached to the\nnext generations, but it could be teached only on Christmas night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, in Gallician\u00f2 and in all the rest of the\nhellenic area, we can also find dances and musical melodies carried on with\nhandmade folk musical instruments like the \u200btamburello<\/em>\n(in greek tympanon) made with goat\u2019s skin, the \u200borganetto <\/em>(\u200b <\/em>similar to\nthe accordion)\u200b, \u200b<\/em>the lyre and the \u200bzampogna \u200b<\/em>(also made with goat\u2019s skin)\nusually used in Christmas time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The symbolic dance of this region is tarantella. \u200b<\/em>Its origins are not sure\nbut probably linked to Magna Grecia. It is a courtship dance directed by an old\nand respected man who is the \u201cdirector\u201d of the dance. He chooses one boy and\none girl who have to dance together and in turn he changes couples, but before\nthe exit, the male dancer has to dance with him. None of the guests to the\ndance, man or woman, can refuse the invitation to dance! <\/p>\n\n\n\n He makes what we call \u200brota\u200b<\/em>: the circular movement that marks the territory of belonging, and on which they are dancing, a real duel between men, for the dominance of the space. The guests to the ball also arrange themselves around the dancers in order to create a circle, the rota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The director and me dancing tarantella <\/p>\n\n\n\n The feminine figure, on the other hand, dances in a\nshy and modest attitude that reminisces of ancient classical greek attitudes.\nThe woman, who generally moves less, almost always occupies the center of the\nwheel: a position of prestige and respect. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dance is supported by a group of musicians, playing live music that could go on for many hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My friend Nino and me playing organetto and tamburello <\/p>\n\n\n\n The original name of tarantella comes from \u200btarantula\u200b<\/em>, because the dance movements\nof jumping simulates the attitude of being bitten by a tarantula. The tarantula\nmyth was born precisely in the era of medieval obscurantism when the pagan\ndivinities of Magna Graecia are silenced by the new apostles of a more rational\nand composed religion. The history of the tarantella is therefore a history of\nrepression, a repression that starts from the hegemonic culture and strikes\ndown on the peasant culture, archaic and obstinately linked to the fables and\nrites of the earth and the stars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the Palm Sunday, of the catholic religion, is carried on a ritual of the greek mythology: the of \u200bPupazze<\/em> (or Persefoni\u200b<\/em>) ceremony, done on the street. They are sculptures of female bodies, that\nremember Demetra and Persephone myth, made by olive leaves, woven into wooden\nsticks decorated with fruits, and flowers, that are brought around the streets\nof the village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is believed that the ritual of \u200bPupazze\u200b<\/em>, is celebrated to thank the\nmother goddess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Calabria, in the previous years, some of the\nancient traditions have been lost, because it was believed that they were only\nfor old people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Only in recents years were born many associations[2]<\/sup><\/a> and\nschools[3]<\/sup><\/a> that\nteach the old greek language of calabria to improve the value of traditions and\ngive continuity to the origins. [1]<\/a>\nOld\npeople speaking grecanico in Gallician\u00f2 \n\u200bhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4zYz6yOHD14&t=84s<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a>\nGreek cultural center \u201cApodiafazzi\u201d https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Apodiafazzi <\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> To ddomadi greko, greek\nschool of Bova <\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/search\/top?q=to%20ddomadi%20greko%20-%20la%20settimana%20gre\nka <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Greekness in Calabria Mythology One of the first times Greek culture came into contact with Calabria is tracked back to the stories of Odissea by Omero. When Ulisse came to the Feaci land, driven by the forces of the sea and by the sea monsters Scilla and Cariddi, he was surprised by that … Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-erasmus","category-volunteers-voices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The area of Reggio Calabria <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCulinary traditions <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nRituals and beliefs of the greek traditions <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Orthodox church of the greek Madonna of Gallician\u00f2 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/arsis.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Giusy-Andriano-12.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe wedding <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTraditional Music and Dance <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nReligious Rituals <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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