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Αναστενάρια
Every year, on May 21st, the day dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helena, a strange and curious folk festival takes place in two Macedonian villages: Langada in Thessaloniki and Saint Helena (Agia Eleni) in Serres.
The most impressive part of this festival is the scene during which the followers of the two saints walk barefoot on hot coals. These worshippers are called the “Anastenaria” or “Anastenarides,” from the verb “anastenazo” (to sigh).
This is an ancient custom, once practiced in Eastern Thrace, particularly in the village of Costi. It was transplanted to Macedonia with the refugees who settled there after the population exchange concluded in 1923 between Greece and Turkey.
Although the “Anastenaria” display a thoroughly Christian fervor, it is easy to find vestiges of an ancient Christianized orgiastic cult.
Another rite of this ceremony, preserved by the “Anastenarides,” is the sacrifice of the bull adorned with flowers, whose origins date back to ancient Greece. The meat of the animal is then distributed raw to the families of the village, exactly as required by the ancient custom where the sacrificed bull symbolized the god Dionysus.
The Anastenaria festival lasts three days. The day before, the participants gather in the konaki (a special room in their leader’s house) and in the afternoon, after Vespers, accompanied by music, they go to the church to retrieve the icons of the two Saints and give them a place of honor in the konaki.
The tune accompanying the procession of the Anastenarides out of the konaki is called “Street tune“. It is the first of three tunes played throughout the rite. The musicians lead the way, followed by the Anastenarides holding lighted candles.
The second tune, entitled “In the Green Meadow“, is slow. Its lyrics describe the abduction of a young Greek mother by the Turks. As soon as they hear this tune, the Anastenarides, who had been sitting around the icons until then, are gradually overcome by the sacred exaltation that puts them into a trance. This trance is expressed at first by sighs “eh – efv, ih – ih, ouh – ouh”, and when it reaches its peak, the faithful rise, take the icons in their arms and begin to dance.
It is then that the lyra player begins the dance tune “Little Constantine”, the third and most important tune of the rite. This same tune, played on the lyra and the daouli, also accompanies the dance on the embers which takes place the following afternoon in the village square, before a large assembly.
Domna Samiou taped the tune in Agia Eleni, Serres, in 1964.
The ceremony of Anastenaria. Documentary by M. L . Carbonell (1968). Video editing: Daphne Djaferis
