I'm in love with a river

And the Arapitsa is not just any river.  It's a magical river that swirls down through Naousa via a succession of waterfalls‎, beginning above us at Aghio Nikolaos Grove in the foothills of Mt. Vermion and fed by the many springs in the area (and now also melting snow). I never get tired of watching those rushing waters‎!‎

The Arapitsa -- one of only 3 Greek rivers with a feminine name -- is not just an amazing sight. These waters once powered famous textile mills that employed about half the town, but are now largely closed and shuttered due to globalization. It used to be a pretty big deal to buy a Vetlans blanket from Naousa.‎

About halfway up the river at Stoumpanos Falls there is a poignant monument to Naousa women who jumped to their deaths in 1822 rather than subjugate themselves to the Ottoman Turks who had just killed about 10,000 Greeks and burned the town to the ground. Naousa was not liberated until 1913, but the hard-fought "Olokaftoma" episode diverted Turkish forces enough to enable the Peloponnesus to become independent -- thus the unique honorific "Heroic City" bestowed by Royal Decree in 1955.

Today, the Arapitsa flows down into the valley below, serving to irrigate the many crops...fruit trees, grapes, vegetables, and, more recently‎, kiwis. The associated springs also give us our drinking water.  And there is promise of more energy uses in the future...‎

There are many amazing things about ‎this Macedonian  town of 23,000 people an hour west of Thessaloniki. Just a lot going on all the time, and on so many levels.

But Naousa's indisputable and indispensable backbone is a river, the magical Arapitsa. ‎

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There are many ways to resist

NOTE: Last week I visited the Benaki Museum in Athens and came upon a "Dear Thea Lena" exhibit and documentary film -- learning for the first time about "one of those heroic feminine figures that lifted Greece on their shoulders." The 90-minute film was lovingly directed by her grand-daughter, Maria Iliou. (See photo)

Once upon a time, there was a Greek actress named Antigoni Metaxa. She created a children's theater in the 30's and later focused on radio broadcasts during the German Occupation. She was more educator than actress.‎ Her much-anticipated presence in so many homes throughout Greece caused her to change her name to Thea Lena. 

Thea Lena's radio programs were not censored because they were aimed at children. Children who were truly lifted up at a time when they would literally encounter dead bodies in the streets whenever they went out. An English naval barricade to deter a plundering German army helped deprive Greeks of food supplies. 40,000 civilians died in Athens alone from starvation.

By 1950 over a million kids were listening to her programs. And sacks of letters addressed to Thea Lena arrived at her home every day. Over 35 years, she produced 3500 radio broadcasts with the help of her dear husband Kostas Kostiras and fellow artists. She went on to create a children's magazine, make recordings, write 50 books plus a childrens' encyclopedia, and finally produce for television before her death in 1971. People were amazed at her dedication and output .

Most importantly, Thea Lena's broadcasts ‎did not just entertain. Children were taught important lessons. And made proud of their national identity and the Greek culture. Thea Lena's forward-looking work "projected a spirit of resistance" in the harshest of times. She is remebered by so many with love and gratitude to this very day. And rightly so.

Yes, indeed. There are many ways to resist.

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Listening tour confirms crisis issues, lock me up!

Spent a very pleasant weekend in Thessaloniki after 3 weeks with a lingering cold here in Naousa. Met up with a number of Farm School "boys and girls,"  and we danced up a storm in a Kato Toumba taverna. On Sunday morning I went to nearby Aghio Theraponta church where I knew I would find 3 Girls School grads‎. A year ago, those women did NOT realize that they lived about 5 blocks from each other! 

Sunday morning is Ladies' day out -- go to church, hangout afterwards with your cronies, drink coffee and talk. The midday meal might have been prepared the night before...Our conversation came around to whether men or women contribute more to family life...and this a few days before International Women's Day, which is actually celebrated in Greece. (Some amazing Women's Day soiree videos were circulated on Facebook by my cousin Froso from the village of Kyparissi, Lakonias.)

Opinions at our coffee klatch ranged from women being discriminated against to "what does the Bible say?" At my folk dance class yesterday, the teacher said "Many Years" to the women and a man then asked when is Men's Day. "Every other day," shot back one of the ladies in half jest. Indeed, men in Greece earn 1.75 Euros for every Euro a woman earns. Sound familiar?

During Sunday lunch with other friends, talk turned more than ever before to hardships people here face. Because there have been 3 "Memorandums" signed so far with The Creditors, I mistakenly though pensions had been cut 3 times. In fact, they have been cut 10-11 times -- "who can keep track," I was told -- while taxes and fees have risen in order to meet the $$$ goals prescribed by the European Union. Half of all Greeks are living below the poverty line, and many cannot pay utility bills. One woman from Larissa talked about people in her neighborhood having their electricity cut off, while another said that in her town there is group of electricians that goes around illegally reconnecting such for people with babies or senior citizens w/oxygen machines or others who desperately needed some form of heat during one of the coldest winters around here in 50 years. Can they not?

What about the woman who works in a department store, which was once a chain of 8 stores in Thessaloniki with 475 employees? Now there are 18 employees who are not being paid regularly, as people aren't shopping or are buying cheap clothes from the weekly outdoor markets. The employer has to scrape up money to pay for electricity, etc., and I saw those pictures of employees wearing coats in the store. Occasionally the salespeople are allowed to divide up what's in the cash registers at the end of the day, providing 80-100 Euros for each of them.

Here in Naousa -- a cultured and fairly modern city of 20,000 people -- the big community angst is what will happen to the renown and now deteriorating hospital (once run by my 93-year-old uncle Dr. George Koukoulos). People come from all around to see our cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons and ophthalmologists. The government is planning to downgrade the facility to a Health Center with fewer doctors, departments,  and amenities. And there will be no ambulance to go to the hospital in the next town. Double ouch!

While beleaguered Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tries to put a good face on current very tough talks with The Creditors for the next bailout (and now unavoidable debt relief), the economic suffering of the Greek people simply cannot be overstated. Last time I was here, I kept asking for receipts when shopping so that sellers could not get out of reporting the sales. This time I can really see and feel how bad things are, so I turn a blind eye to the receipt thing with small purchases even though "cheating" will not help fix the business culture in the long run. Go ahead, lock me up! 

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‎

Naousa is proud of its Carnival traditions, in spite of the weather

After going out earlier in a drizzle to shop at the Saturday outdoor market, I am waiting here with baited breath to see if it will rain again in Naousa this afternoon. Everybody plans to be out with barbecues in the street 2 days before Lent starts. I also expect frolicking satire/dancing to the music of zournades (think clarinet) and daoulia (think bass drum)‎.  The Naousa holiday theme is "One City, One Celebration." While $$$ times are very tough, the people here are all-in for a good time all Carnival week thru Clean Monday. 

The worst days of one of the harshest winters on record (down to - 17C!) seem to have passed, and my studio apt is now fully heated (costing more than the rent!) -- but bad luck vis-à-vis the weather continues. Last 3 days it has been sunny and around 65F, but now the forecast says rain/50F tomorrow, a VERY important day. But that won't deter anyone from celebrating the historic rituals/traditions that go back centuries.  

"Yenitsari and Boules" are men in special costumes, who during the Ottoman Empire danced through the streets under the guise of Carnival to collect money to buy supplies and then go into the mountains to fight for Independence. So both Sundays start with a ritual dressing of each "soldier" in his family home by his parents, some accessories being sewn on right then. When his "boulouki" (think platoon) comes to fetch him, he greets them, does his cross, kisses his mother goodbye, and joins the group to go collect others. Then they go to the Town Hall for permission from the mayor to dance through the town on a special route so never-changing that it printed on a map. At 5 o'clock they reach stop #8 Allonia -- the neighborhood where my Dad grew up -- and take off the special "faces"(masks) crafted primarily of wax. They dance, and then so does everyone else. Opa!

Such an amazing and moving spectacle that I had only known superficially till now. During my time at the Farm School 68-78, I did visit Naousa a few times for a day or two. But living here the whole week -- Yenitsari without masks dancing through the town every day! -- I really get how proud the people of Naousa are of this unique tradition...and how dedicated, resilient, and fun-loving they are. And I am proud of them, too.

(Just wonder what Efstathios Xanthopoulos would think of all this...)

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Breaking News: Back to business, in a manner of speaking...

Heading back to and Greece and Naousa today for another 3-month stint, and looking forward to the historic and quite famous Carnival celebration there. But NOT to the snowy, cold weather I been reading about lately -- or what kind of mess I might find in my studio apt since the pipes froze and burst a few weeks ago. Who knew Greece would have one the coldest, snowiest winters on record THIS year?

Before I left in October, they gave me a book with step-by-step descriptions of the Carnival happenings, including the ritual dressing of Yennitsari and Boules in elaborate costumes. The unique celebration lasts 10 days, prefaced by "Tsiknopemti" which is this coming Thursday and kind of a Halloween said to be the totally spontaneous and satirical. Thinking of going as a "We won't pay for The Wall" Mexican. We'll see...


The people of Naousa have vowed to celebrate Carnival to the hilt regardless of more ridiculous and painful pronouncements/pressures from "The Creditors" -- and in case you have forgotten what's going on there, you can catch up: A Greek tragedy: how much can one nation take?  Just last Thursday, the German Finance Minister insisted that Greeks not only need to endure MORE pension cuts/higher taxes, but debt reduction is not possible unless Greece leaves the Eurozone. REALLY?  (Indeed, the note inside a Xmas card that I received from one of my relatives said this: "...we're a mess. There is no work, businesses are closing, and people are besides themselves. I don't know what will happen. The pensions are constantly cut and necessities get more expensive...")


While projections have the Greek economy picking up on paper in terms of so-called "bailout" goals, the effect of multiple pension cuts and 24 percent unemployment has been catastrophic (and disgraceful, I might add without hesitation) on real people who are really suffering. Some of them might be your own relatives who have been loathe to admit it!


Then there is my Extended Family of approximately 200 AFS Girls School graduates, most of whom I now have on speed dial...plus their many children and grandchildren that I have met in my travels.  I have heard some amazing stories of grit and determination by strong women over the past 50 years of topsy-turvy Greek history.


What will be worse? Potentially below freezing weather or coming again face-to-face with an unfathomable 2017 Greek reality or having to explain why the American people elected Donald Trump? For a few days we will be able to hide behind masks. Then back to business, in a manner of speaking.

PS: If you read Greek, you can follow the very timely and informative Naousa/Veria blog EPEA PTEROENTA here. Opa!