Blog

The origin of the Greeks is more or less known to everyone: the ancient Greek tribes descended into the Greek territory gradually from the 19th to the 11th century BC. In modern Greece we find Thracians, Pontians, Vlachs, Blatziotes, Cretans, Arvanites, etc. One of the ancient Greek tribes is that of the Sarakatsani or Sarakatsani. But who are the Sarakatsani?
• They are the ones who trace their origins to Greek antiquity.
• They are those whose birthplace is the mountains of Epirus.
• They are the ones who have spoken the Greek language since ancient times.
• They are the ones who have always lived as nomads. Every Saint George they would go out to the mountains and every Saint Demetrius they would take the road for the winter. “…In the winter they go, it gets dark and they don’t move forward…”
• They are the ones whose lives revolved around the herd. Livestock farming was their professional activity and their livelihood came from their livestock.
• They are the ones who, with the fall of Constantinople, wore black to mourn the fall of the capital of Hellenism.
• They are the ones who, according to the prevailing theory, owe their name to the Turkish words: “kara”, which means black, and “katsan”, which means fugitive. Black because in addition to their black clothing, they slaughtered the white sheep and kept only the black ones, the “laia”, during the Fall. And fugitives because they took to the mountains and became thieves, fighting the Turkish conqueror.
• They are the ones who have as their role model, pride and hero the greatest figure of Kleftouria, Antonis Makrygiannis, known as Katsantonis. “Antonis went out to Agrafa to chew up young men…”
• They are the ones in whose quarters the nun's son, the later Commander-in-Chief of Roumeli, Georgios Karaiskakis, grew up.
• They are the ones who always responded to the calls of the homeland for the struggles of national independence. "We are the deceitful few, few and chosen."
• They are the ones from whom many fighters, scientists, politicians and other men who excelled in public life have come. They owed the letters they learned to the schoolmaster, a hired teacher who was paid by the families of the students, who also took care of his feeding.
• They are the ones who live together as a family in the traditional Sarakatsani house, the hut. Made of sticks and having a circular shape, it is a characteristic example of Sarakatsani culture. And in the Sarakatsani family, patriarchy and respect for the elders dominate. “My youth and my youth, my heart did not rejoice over you.”
• They are those whose wives are the support, the pillar of the home. The women raise the children, knead the bread, prepare the food, bring the wood with shovels, weave on the loom, prepare the dowries for their daughters.
• They are the ones who all work on the herd and contribute to the family income. From the first milking before dawn, to the evening feeding, and from the birth of the castrated sheep to the shearing. "We milked the sheep, in an old barn...".
• They are those who believe in God and observe Christian traditions: with a candle in hand, they go out on the night of Lambri to celebrate the Resurrection together with their fellow villagers. And on Easter Sunday they skewer the lamb they slaughtered from their own farm and feast with their family: parents, children, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and siblings. “In our feast tonight, in this joy of ours…”
• They are the ones for whom dancing and singing are an integral part of their lives: at birth, at weddings, at celebrations, in the fold, when children leave for the city, and even in times of sorrow, they "greet" their own people with dirges.
• They are the ones whose singers and musicians can awaken the feelings of their loved ones and make tears flow at once. And with their artistic ability, their craftsmanship, they set up traditional feasts until dawn. With table songs, tsamika, syrta sta tria, katses. "Kimerose Vasiliki, pan` ta poulakia gia veskoki".
• They are the Sarakatsani, my ancestors!
To my grandmother, Parlantza Embassy
Miltiadis V. Parlantzas
Assistant Professor (EM), MSc