Scattered in Foreign Lands

scattered in foreign lands

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Cover:

Constantine Manos. Detail View of Olymbos (photograph ® Costa Manos-Magnum)

Ετούτη είναι ή "Ολυμπος ή μπονεντολουσμένη άποΰναι εις τά πέρατα τοΰ κόσμου ξακουσμένη. Νίκος "Αναστασιάδης This is Olymbos, bathed in light mist; this is the village renowned the world over.

Nikos Anastasiadis

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scattered in foreign lands A GREEK VILLAGE IN BALTIMORE ANNA CARAVELI

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An exhibition at The Baltimore Museum of Art June 30-August 18, 1985

The exhibition and catalogue, organized under the sponsorship of The National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, Washington, D.C., have been made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Folk Arts Program, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Museums and Historical Organizations Program.

PROJECT STAFF:

Anna Caraveli, Smithsonian Institution, Guest Curator and Project Director Elaine Eff, Baltimore, Guest Curator and Project Director Minas Konsolas, Baltimore Artistic Consultant and Community Consultant Maria Nicolaidi, Baltimore, Program Director and Principal Community Advisor PROJECT CONSULTANTS:

Diskin Clay, The Johns Hopkins University Ivan Karp, Smithsonian Institution Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, New York University Š 1985 The National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs Published by The Baltimore Museum of Art, Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21218. ISBN 0-912298-59-6.

Design by HOLLOWPRESS, Baltimore Typesetting by Monotype Composition, Inc., Baltimore Greek typesetting by Action Comp Co., Inc., Baltimore Printed on 80 lb. Warren's Lustro Offset Enamel Dull by Schneidereith & Sons, Baltimore 2,000 copies printed June 1985

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Hundreds of Olymbites have made Baltimore their h o m e in recent decades. A Greek village voluntarily transplanted to the midst of the easternmost section of our City continues to add a n e w and vital dimension to the life of a twentieth-century urban neighborhood.

Surprisingly similar to Olymbos which sits atop the m o u n tains of Karpathos, Highlandtown is perched above the City within visual appreciation of the bustling waterfront. While different from the Aegean homeland, East Baltimore nonetheless continues to offer a full range of opportunities creating a dynamic and undeniable Olymbian presence, which serves the Greek community as a whole and all of Baltimore as well. The Olymbites of Karpathos and Baltimore have enriched their lives and ours by their industry and visibility.

The collaboration of scholars, community residents, and city agencies in realizing this project during the last several years will undoubtedly set a stirring precedent for grass roots projects

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in the future. The Greek-Americans of Baltimore have brought and shared their rich institutions to a City that thrives on diversity. Churches filled with traditional ritual, homes overflowing with the Hellenic aesthetic, ethnic cuisine and dress, participation in local and national festivals, glendi, and family life have set impressive examples of their ongoing contribution to Baltimore City's life.

Evidence of Olymbitiki activity is irrepressible and The Baltimore M u s e u m of Art is to be lauded in its recognition of the artistic contributions of its neighbors. We are continually delighted by the excellence of Greek-American contributions to Baltimore's cultural and mercantile history. This impressive exhibition and publication is yet another proud m o m e n t in their unfolding stories and travels, and w e are pleased that a Greek village in Baltimore—Olymbos—has chosen this occasion and forum to share their rich heritage and future with Baltimore and the world.

Acknowledgments

This exhibition is the story of the people of Olymbos (or Elymbos as it is called locally), both on the island of Karpathos and in Baltimore, told through their rich traditions of oral and material culture. My foremost and deepest gratitude is to the Olymbites w h o have contributed their expertise as subjects and as interpreters of their heritage. M a n y individuals and families in Olymbos and Baltimore welcomed me into their homes, shared with m e their vast knowledge of Olymbos' traditional culture, and became my guides to their communities.

Some, as personal friends, entrusted m e with private m o m e n t s of their lives. All shared a c o m m o n passion for their heritage and its perpetuation. We hope that this exhibition and catalogue contribute, in some small way, to an accurate portrayal of w h a t Olymbites see as their most vital and precious expressions.

Among the m a n y people to w h o m I owe thanks are m a n y families and individuals of Baltimore: all the members of the Nikolaidi family, especially Mrs. Maria Nikolaidi, the matriarch of the family; her children Ilias, Kostas and Maria, Vasilis and Maria, Minas and Irini; Yiorgos, Emmanuel, and Kalliopi Hioti; Irini Yeorgaki; the Konsola family, especially Mrs. Mangafoula Konsola and her children and grandchildren; Minas Konsolas, w h o has applied his talents as artist and graphic designer to this exhibition; Mihalis and Vangelio Yeorgaki, Sofia and Antonios Parayou, Fotini and Minas Houvarda; the members of the Diakomanoli and Vasilaraki families; Vasilis and Maria Kakaroli; Yiannis and Marina Sofilla and their children: Man-

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olis, Popi, and her husband Kostas; Nikos and Maria Agapiou; Dinos and Maria Kasteloloriziou; and Mrs. Evyenia Mastromanoli, whose family history is featured in the exhibition.

In Olymbos I would like to thank my hosts Vasilis and Sofia Farmakidi, owners of a small inn and most knowledgeable of the glendi traditions; Andreas Hirakis, one of the greatest Olymbites meraklides whose son's wedding became one of the most profound h u m a n dramas I was ever to have the honor of witnessing; Hirakis' daughters, Sofia Kritikou and Kalliopi— great poets in their o w n right—who became dear friends in the course of time; Sofia's husband Manolis and her daughter Anna; Andreas' son-in-law Mihalis Zografidis, a talented lyra player and meraklis, whose generous guidance and hospitality were instrumental to my understanding of Olymbos; the family of Vasilis Sofillas; Kosmas Hadzipapas, of the Olymbos settlement in Rhodes; Yeoryios Sakelis, president of the village of Olymbos; Yeoryios Prearis and his mother Kalliopi; and m a n y others. Their advice, explanations, generous hospitality, and dedication to the Olymbos heritage, made this project possible and enriched my o w n perspective on the transformation of experience—founded u p o n crisis and change—into superb artistic expression.

I a m also deeply appreciative of the support of the Olymbian Brotherhood, the principal Olymbos institution in Baltimore since 1950 and the community's official representative. Three individuals served as presidents of the Brotherhood from 1979

to 1985 during my research: Emmanuel Diakomanolis, Emmanuel Nikolaidis, and Yiannis Dargakis, the present president.

This work could not have taken place without their confidence, support, and advice. To help us better understand and interpret Olymbos' traditional culture, the Brotherhood appointed an advisory board consisting of knowledgeable Olymbites w h o were among the most renowned meraklides in the community: Kostas Nikolaidis, Nikolaos Nikitas, and Manolis Diakomanolis.

Their artistic talents and historical knowledge have helped shape the content of this exhibition and I feel honored by their willingness to participate.

The exhibition would not be possible without its most important vehicle, the photographs of accomplished artists Liliane de Toledo and Constantine Manos. Their sensitive depiction and personal vision of Olymbites communicate and bring to life the various dimensions of Olymbos, filtering in a fascinating way the expressiveness of its people. I thank t h e m both for the extraordinary quality of their work and for their willingness to lend it to the exhibition.

Naturally the exhibition depends heavily on the domestic objects generously lent by Baltimore Olymbites, giving a privileged view of their homes through their cherished household possessions (see list of lenders).

W h e n I first visited the Baltimore community in the fall of 1979, it was the collaboration, encouragement, friendship, and intelligent advice given me by Maria Nikolaidi and her husband Vasilis, that helped turn this exploratory trip into a six-yearlong study and exhibition project. Maria applied her talents as poet, local historian, and later as the project's program director and liaison with the community. Minas Konsolas joined the planning group as a valuable ally, friend, and staff member.

Their enthusiasm, knowledge, and hard work as Olymbites and project staff were among the most important building blocks of my work in Olymbos and in Baltimore. Minas and Maria became vital links to the Olymbos of both continents.

Elaine Eff joined me as project director at a critical m o m e n t in

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the project, w h e n its complexity increased and my o w n resources as a folklorist and principal administrator were no longer adequate. Her vast experience in creating successful ethnographic exhibitions; her knowledge of Baltimore neighborhoods, the field of folk art, and the m u s e u m world; her sensitive eye for material culture; and her quick grasp of community dynamics were invaluable and became instrumental in bringing this project to completion. I a m also grateful to Elaine for her generosity and commitment to this project, on which she devoted long hours years before its realization.

Humanists Diskin Clay, Ivan Karp, and Barbara KirshenblattGimblett, classicist, anthropologist, and folklorist respectively, invested m a n y hours of hard work on the interpretation of Olymbos' culture. They contributed important insights and rigorous criticism which tightened concepts, made the intellectual framework of the exhibition more cohesive, and intelligently integrated scholarly analysis with the community's ideas and interpretations. Their commitment completed a stimulating and productive team.

The National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs and its mission to further the study of urban ethnicity gave this project an administrative " h o m e " long before there was evidence of any other source of support. I will be forever grateful for the intellectual and programmatic direction provided by its director, Dr. J o h n Kromkowski; its administrator Ruth Dee; Jack Whitehurst and Geraldine Jones, newsletter editor and assistant, respectively; and, above all, the initial trust and encouragement I received from the Center, without which the project would not have been launched.

Funding from the Folk Arts Program of the National End o w m e n t of the Arts allowed m e to devote seven uninterrupted m o n t h s of research into the folk arts of the community to implement the exhibition. This funding was the decisive step that turned personal research into a public showcase that documents one part of the rich mosaic of American ethnic artistic heritage. The program's director Bess Lomax Hawes

was the first person to direct m e toward the Olymbos community in Baltimore m a n y years earlier. I a m deeply indebted to her for her sensitive vision, guidance, inspiration, and commitment to the traditional folk arts of our cities.

I a m also grateful for the generous support of the M u s e u m and Historical Organizations Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities that saw the universal humanistic dimensions in a seemingly "local" project, and provided the funding that made full implementation of a quality exhibition and publication possible.

Mayor William Donald Schaefer, through the able and dynamic guidance of Tom Marudas, w h o oversees Baltimore's neighborhoods, offered this project municipal support and facilitated the creation of its public programs and our liaison with The Baltimore M u s e u m of Art. Tom Marudas' knowledge of Greek-American history and Baltimore's neighborhood culture, as well as his personal vision, helped link the unique

experience of Baltimore Olymbites to the broader American ethnic experience through the City's art museum.

I would also like to thank The Baltimore M u s e u m of Art. I a m especially grateful to the Director, Arnold L. Lehman, for his collaboration with us and his helpful advice. Jay M. Fisher, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, and Audrey Frantz, Coordinator of Publications, contributed their professional expertise to this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my husband J o n a t h a n Chaves for his support, inspiration, and untiring critique of manuscripts and ideas; both my husband and our children, Ian, Rachel, and Colin, became actively involved with the Olymbos community and exhibited enormous tolerance for long hours of work on my part and for long glendia lasting into the morning at which they were present. I am grateful for their interest and understanding.

L E N D E R S TO THE E X H I B I T I O N Yiannis Dargakis Emmanuel Diakomanolis Vasilios Fourtinas Yeoryios Fourtinas Minas Houvardas Nikolaos Kakarolis Konstandinos Karellas Nikolaos Nikitas Yeoryios Nikitas

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Emmanuel Nikolaidis George Nikolaidis Konstantinos Nikolaidis Minas Nikolaidis Vasilios Nikolaidis Yeoryios Nikolaou Antonios Parayios Eftyhia Sazakli A. Michael Yiorgakis

The Photographers

Liliane de Toledo

Constantine M a n o s

Liliane de Toledo is a Swiss photographer of international reputation presently residing in Geneva, Switzerland. Born in 1957, she has traveled extensively around the world—since 1982 with the International Red Cross. Much of her work deals with sensitive depictions of h u m a n interaction in a crosscultural framework. She has worked in the area of documentary photography, has published in international magazines, and has had several o n e - m a n shows in Europe. Mastery of technique is coupled by her capacity for deep identification with the peoples she has portrayed and a keen interest in the study of culture. She has documented the communities of Olymbos and of Olymbites in Baltimore and New York for the past ten years, living among t h e m as participant/observer and studying core cultural performances such as the glendi.

Constantine Manos, born in the U.S. of Greek parents, became interested in photography at an early age, and at 19 became the official photographer of the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. Following college, he served two years in the Army as a staff photographer for Stars and Stripes in Europe. In 1964, he joined M a g n u m Photos, the international photographic agency. Over the past twenty years, Manos' photographs have appeared in such magazines as Look, Life, and Esquire. No doubt inspired by his heritage, he traveled throughout Greece, a trip which resulted in his award-winning book A Greek Portfolio, published by Viking in 1972. Manos, w h o resides in Boston, has had o n e - m a n exhibitions at The Art Institute of Chicago and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, as well as galleries in New York, Boston, London, and Milan. His work is in the permanent collection of The M u s e u m of Modern Art, New York.

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Πάλι περνώ τα τά βουνά πού μ'εχουν άνα$ρέψει καί τόν άγέρα τοϋ βουνού πού εχω άναπνέψει. Μιχάλης Χηράκης Once more I cross the mountains that raised me in their midst and greet the mountain breeze that I have always breathed.

Mihalis Hirakis

Liliane de Toledo. Shepherdess makes lace while tending her flock in view of Olymbos.

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Introduction

In 1947 Nikolaos Mastromanolis 1 arrived in the United States from Olymbos, a village on the island of Karpathos in Greece, and settled in Baltimore. In 1954 he was joined by his wife and three children, ages 15, 12, and 6. This was a momentous event of important historical implications for Olymbos. Moreover, it affected significantly the composition of Highlandtown, a neighborhood in Southeast Baltimore where the family resided, and—on a broader scale—the City of Baltimore's history. While single men from Olymbos had emigrated to America before this time—Minas and Ilias Dargakis being pioneers in 1918—the Mastromanolis family were the first Olymbites to emigrate permanently as a family, causing a stir in the village and altering its emigration patterns irrevocably.

Since that time, peaking in the decade of the sixties, chain migration depleted the village's population and brought more Olymbites to Baltimore than to any other foreign city. Most settled in Highlandtown where a Greek-American community was already established and forged a distinct community within it.

Greeks began arriving in the United States and forming permanent communities in the 1890's. Their emigration from Greece to the United States occurred in two distinct waves.

The first, between the early 1890's and the passage of the United States Immigration act in 1921, was dominated, at least initially, by unskilled males. Women and more skilled workers followed later. Most of these early immigrants viewed their

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stay in the United States as temporary. Many returned to Greece while some traveled between Greece and the United States several times before settling permanently in one or the other country. Greeks tended to settle in cities, mainly in the Northeast, working on the railroad, in construction, textile factories, or owning small businesses, usually restaurants and candy shops.

Churches became the focal points of social organization, ethnic identification, and—through their language schools— cultural education in Greek-American communities. Because churches were the first and most vital institutions in neighborhoods, their role was different from that in Greek villages, their importance augmented, and, therefore, the meaning they had for parishioners changed. Later immigrants differed from earlier ones in part by having a less reverential attitude toward the church, which reflected the church/laity antagonism in Greece.

Other organizations in addition to the church flourished.

Among the most important of them were the mutual benefit societies, organized on the basis of common village origin, that carried over to American urban centers the village organizational patterns and identities. The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) and the Greek American Progressive Association (GAPA) were the earliest and most important panhellenic organizations in America. Their rival philosophies—the former advocating assimilation and the

latter cultural retention—reflected some of the tensions and differing philosophies of the Greek-American population. On the whole, second and third generation Greeks have attained high educational and professional status in America and prospered as a group.

Aside from regional and generational distinctions that rendered Greek-Americans a richly diverse group, various political tensions divided their communities. At the turn of the century rivalry in Greece between the Royalists (followers of King Konstantine) and the Venizelists (followers of the head of the liberal party, Eleftherios Venizelos) caused bitter factions among Greek-Americans. Finally, another major tension developed between earlier immigrants and those arriving after World War II, and was reflected in neighborhood and church composition.

Following the same patterns of the larger Greek settlements in the United States, Greeks began arriving in Baltimore at the turn of the century. The first permanent Greek church of Evangelismos was established in 1909, followed by the creation of the first church-affiliated Greek language school in 1912, and other social institutions such as the local mutual benefit societies (topika somateia). In the 1920's rivalry between Royalist and Venizelist factions split the community into two parishes, which were later reunited. Antagonism between AHEPA and GAP A followers created further tensions among Baltimore Greeks.

In spite of tensions and national crises (the Depression, World War II), the Greek-Americans of Baltimore prospered and increased in numbers, with members of the second and third generations achieving educational, professional, and political prominence.

There is a marked separation between the more recently arrived Highlandtown Greeks and older Greek communities

in Baltimore reflecting differing occupations, world view, education, and even reasons for emigration. The establishment of St. Nicholas Church and language school in 1956 focused more sharply the Highlandtown community, and further defined the separation of Baltimore Greeks into three distinct parishes. Even within Highlandtown, village origin, date of arrival in the United States, distinctions between Greek-born and American-born, and political affiliations create a rich cultural mosaic and demonstrate the variety of ways that exist in one and the same neighborhood and among people of c o m m o n national origin of defining themselves: as Greeks, Greek-Americans, descendants of a region, residents of Baltimore and of the neighborhood, and, ultimately, as h u m a n beings in the midst of clashing and changing experiences.

Olymbites are one of the most recent, distinct, and cohesive groups in Highlandtown. After emigrating as extended families, they continue to reside in close proximity to each other in patterns transferred from the Greek village. Increasingly, h o w ever, prospering families are moving to the suburbs. Their clear sense of regional identity and superb, expressive traditions have gained Olymbites visibility within Highlandtown as well as national recognition by the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Folklife Programs and The Baltimore M u s e u m of Art, with the exhibition of photographs by Liliane de Toledo and Constantine Manos.

The exhibition "Scattered in Foreign Lands": A Greek Village in Baltimore, focusing on the artistic complexity and excellence of the Olymbos community, is a visual chronicle of the process of transition from village to ethnic identity, of the divergence of ethnic experience in America, and on a more universal level, of the process of definition of w h o w e are and h o w the world around us is m a d e meaningful through our choices.

1.

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Research into the Mastromanolis family history was conducted by Maria Nikolaidi of Baltimore.

Έτοϋτο τό ξενήτεμα τό φέρανε οί χρόνοι, κι ένας-ένας ήρθαμε μέσα στή Βαλτιμόρη.

The passing years have brought on this uprooting upon us, and one by onef and slowly we've come to Baltimore.

Liliane de Toledo. A renowned lyra player is also a university student and part-time waiter at a Baltimore carry-out shop.

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Έφκαίρωσε ή γειτονειά, τ'άρχοντικά έκλεισα, κί όσοι έτράφησαν έδώ στις ξενητειές σκόρπισα.

I. Διακογεωργίου The neighborhood is wasted! Its mansions tightly sealed!

And all those raised in its midst, scattered in foreign lands.

Yiannis Diakoyeoryiou

Liliane de Toledo. A neighborhood in Olymbos

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scattered in foreign lands BEING FROM OLYMBOS "Being an Olymbitis [resident or descendant of the Greek island village of Olymbos] is a difficult a r t / ' sighed Yiannis Sofillas in his Baltimore living room. We had been looking at my slides of the village taken in 1981, and discussing the Olymbos he still revered more than ten years after emigrating— its people, traditions, and rules of social conduct. Similarly, conversations in m a n y Baltimore households, streets, and coffeehouses frequently turn to the meaning of Olymbos identity and the changing boundaries of its universe.

The village of Olymbos (locally called Elymbos) perches dramatically on one of the highest mountains of the Greek island of Karpathos—set between the islands of Crete and Rhodes, part of a chain of islands k n o w n as the Dodecanese.

Until just a few years ago w h e n a dirt road was constructed, contact with other parts of the island was possible only by foot, animal, or boat. Yet, in spite of the village's isolated location, long trips to find temporary employment outside the village—travels taking villagers to other regions of Greece, to cities in Africa and East Asia—are not n e w to Olymbos. Artisans (tehnites) from Olymbos (mainly stone masons and carpenters) helped to build major architectural structures and railroads from North Africa to the interior of Asia from Iran to China.

Old photographs and n u m e r o u s objects that decorate households tell stories of ancestors' frequent encounters with distant cultures.

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While the village of Olymbos is traditional in culture and physically remote, in recent history change has confronted its small but diverse world in many forms and guises. Political and economic dependency, for example, due either to the island's successive foreign occupations or to reliance on foreign economies for work and subsistence, have shaped the Olymbos society. Mrs. Nikolaidi, a seventy-five year old w o m a n from Olymbos living in Baltimore, tells h o w she was born a Turkish citizen, then became an Italian, Greek, and finally American citizen (reflecting the island's occupation by these various powers and her emigration to America). Acquaintance with m a n y cultures has not been n e w to the village.

Permanent emigration, however, has been a recent p h e n o m enon, peaking in the fifties and sixties. Communities of Olymbites are scattered around the world, mainly in urban centers in Greece, especially the cities of Peiraeas and Athens and the island city of Rhodes, and in cities in the United States, primarily New York and Baltimore, one of the largest Olymbos communities. These transplanted communities communicate through frequent travel, intermarriage, exchange of letters, tape recorded messages and songs, and a transcontinental newspaper called the Voice of Olymbos (I Foni tis Olymbou) published in Peiraeas and written by members of Olymbos' diaspora. This important publication gives news of global Olymbos and maintains a dialogue among emigrant Olymbites and those left

Δ ώ σ ' μ ο υ χό γκινοράβδι μου άν τόχεις φυλαγμένο, νά πάω γώ στά πρόβατα, ώς ήμουν μαδημένο.

Καλλιόπη Χηράκη Father, give me back my shepherd's staff if you have kept it still, and I'll take to the mountains, my old shepherd's chores.

Kalliopi Hiraki

Constantine Manos. Shepherdess in Olymbos (photograph ® Costa M a n o s - M a g n u m )

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behind, often in the form of mandinades, the island's traditional songs in assonant couplets.

According to Olymbites there have been four main categories of occupations in the village for centuries: farmers; shepherds; artisans; and the "professional" class, priests and teachers.

Migration was seasonal, with only m e n leaving, while the w o m e n remained behind to manage family life and farming chores. Thus, the cycle of agricultural activities as well as the village's values and world view were not disrupted significantly.

While abroad, Olymbites retained some of the same occupations practiced in the village, working as contractors, stone cutters, quarry workers, and primarily as construction workers. Referring to this last occupation, Olymbites often proudly say that though God created the universe it was the Olymbites w h o built it.

The emigration of the last thirty years, however, is a p h e n o m e n o n that has changed drastically the contours and tone of Olymbos' life-style. With entire families emigrating together, the village becomes increasingly deserted but strong links with the homeland remain; for example, Olymbites maintain households on two continents and in two or three separate cities. However, though m a n y claim they will return one day, most recognize emigration as irrevocable. Each passing year, investments in increasingly expensive private homes, as well as in the purchase of the building that is the headquarters for the Olymbian Brotherhood, the primary Olymbos organization in Baltimore, solidify the community's existence in Baltimore and render it permanent.

Unlike earlier generations migrating for purely financial reasons, recent immigrants cite the lure of urban life as their reason for leaving. Most w a n t their children to enter urban, professional classes. Consequently, a wide variety of occupations and educational backgrounds have brought diversity to the traditional social organization while contributing to the dramatic transitions affecting the Olymbites' world.

Caught in a historic m o m e n t of sudden and profound change,

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Olymbites are in the process of symbolically recreating a n e w "Olymbos" both in the village and in its settlements around the world. An examination of the Olymbos of Highlandtown reveals their creative choices and solutions as they reconstruct a n e w system of meaning and concept of community from bits and pieces of disparate worlds, demonstrating the adaptability, resourcefulness, and flexibility of a h u m a n society in the midst of transition.

Being an Olymbitis (singular of Olymbites), both for those w h o leave Karpathos and for those w h o remain, is an important and viable identity, superseding in m a n y ways that of being a Karpathiot, Greek, Greek-American, or American. Though this sense of regional identity has existed in the past, it has been heightened by the recent drastic social changes, and its meaning and definition have become a staple of daily conversation in the Olymbos village as well as in Baltimore, especially among the Olymbos-born community members—young and old.

"Being an Olymbitis shapes all actions from the way you sit at the coffee house to the way you get married" (Captain Yiorgos of The Panormitis, from the island of Kassos, commenting on his perception of Olymbos, August 21, 1981).

Indeed, the traditional knowledge of complex rules of social conduct and local aesthetics shape the daily enactment of this identity. Pressed for a definition of the meaning of being from Olymbos, community members agree on some important elements: discipline, strictness (afstirotita), adherence to tradition, h o n o r and a good name, loyalty to Olymbos, eloquence, and the love of quick-witted and appropriately timed language.

Sofia Kritikou, residing in Peiraeas, talked about the burden of feeling "judged" by fellow villagers on the correctness of her conduct as an Olymbitisa (feminine). Yet, for her, Olymbos identity is mainly a matter of choice. Given a n u m b e r of diverse life-styles from which to choose, she consciously selects to live her life as an Olymbitisa "to have something of my own, different from other Greeks and the rest of the world."

One of the few concessions Sofia makes to urban life-style

Σπίτι μου νυμφοστόλιστο καί τοίχοι κουνηθείτε καί τόν καλό μου άδερφό νά τόν ύποδεχτήτε. Καλλιόπη Χηράκη Home, adorned for wedding, and you, walls shake with joy and welcome the groom, my beloved brother.

Kalliopi Hiraki

Liliane de Toledo. Home Interior, Olymbos

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"Εχει στοργήν ή "Ολυμπος γιά τά έ$ίματά της, #έλει νά τά κράτήσετε κι άν είσαστε μακριά της Καλλιόπη Χηράκη Olymbos has affection for all its old customs.

Though far and in exile, you must keep them forever.

Kalliopi Hiraki

Liliane de Toledo. Easter table in Baltimore home

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is education, as she wants her only daughter to be university educated. In a complex and carefully thought out plan, designed to integrate village and city world views, she plans to marry off her daughter, Anna, to an Olymbitis in a traditional arranged marriage before she is admitted to Athens University where temptations for sexual freedom and non-traditional marriages abound. Part of the marriage contract, however, will be the groom's consent to Anna's university education while Sofia, as the grandmother, will help with the children. This is just one example of the stream of creative solutions to emerge that combine tradition with innovation.

Olymbos identity and the changes it is undergoing are displayed in conversations, activities, choices of life-styles and occupations, and aesthetic sensibility. In both Baltimore and the village itself, however, the sense of a special identity is enacted in its most intensive and significant manifestation in two primary realms: the aesthetic organization of objects as demonstrated in h o m e interiors, and the realm of artistic creativity—song, music, and dance—expressed in its most complete and dramatic form through the traditional, ritual celebration of the glendi (equivalent to the notion of a party or festive gathering).

JOURNEYS A N D RETURNS: M A K I N G A HOME IN BALTIMORE Olymbos' h o m e interiors make important statements about the identity of their residents as well as the way they w a n t others to perceive them. They encompass vital aspects of family and local history and reflect aesthetic patterns and values that are reiterated in other spheres of life, such as song or daily conversation. Far from being fixed and unchanged, h o m e interiors in the village itself have always incorporated both continuity and change by reflecting their owner's journeys and returns. Rows of imported plates as well as other objects

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manufactured outside the village, for example, become part of the traditional h o m e decor of Olymbos' households. Travels abroad and, more recently, emigration to America, have enriched the w o m e n ' s traditional Olymbos dress with n e w and elaborate designs, colors, and fabrics.

In Baltimore's Highlandtown, while signs of Greek and Greek-American culture are evident in storefronts, streets, and front porches, the distinctive Olymbos presence cannot be detected in public spaces, outside homes. Yet, once inside an Olymbos household, its statements of Olymbos identity and aesthetics are immediately apparent to an Olymbitis or to one familiar with Olymbos' culture, distinguishing it from other Greek-American or ethnic Baltimore homes. Individual objects, but mainly their aesthetic arrangement and the meaning their owners attach to them, encapsulate the experience of Olymbites in Baltimore and mark tangibly their existence in the City.

Community members brought with them few traditional folk objects and family heirlooms, in part because they envisioned their stay in Baltimore as temporary. As years passed and their residence in the City acquired a permanent tone, a process of "recreation" of traditional material culture began. Many women spend vast amounts of time—far greater than the equivalent time spent in the village—embroidering and creating their children's trousseaux though such objects will be used very few times in a lifetime.

Mrs. Kalliopi Hioti emigrated to Baltimore before her children. Sewing and embroidering traditional dowry items for her daughter and sending t h e m to her in Greece was not only an expression of Olymbos identity for Mrs. Hioti, but also a form of communication with her children and the homeland as well (Synginonousa mazi tous; w h e n I sewed I communicated with them). The value of these objects then is not found in their function and aesthetic form alone. Clearly the very process of creating them and the act of possessing them carry symbolic significance for the community and m a k e important statements about the identity of their makers and users, such as Mrs.

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I Liliane de Toledo. Women in dry goods store buy material for traditional costume and dowry items, some of which will be sent to Olymbos.

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Hioti's identity as an Olymbitisa and a mother, and her feelings toward her children, village, and Baltimore.

While Baltimore Olymbos' households also display traditional items, it is not so m u c h the individual objects but the assemblage of traditional and non-traditional objects, often commercial, which reflect a distinct n e w system of ethnic folk aesthetics. Objects, seemingly disparate to the eye of an outsider, are grouped together on the basis of conventional aesthetic village patterns, rules, and designs. Displays of silver, Japanese lacquerware, and other decorative items are combined with clear symbols of Olymbos identity such as a low-relief woodcarving of a m a p of the island of Karpathos.

In Baltimore and New York City a series of non-Greek stores—from discount department stores to fabric shops in Queens, New York—have been identified by Olymbites as sources for the recreation of the Olymbos aesthetic. What to the outsider are commercial objects or material reveal to the Olymbitis parallels to village aesthetics in color, texture, design, or value, and are utilized to construct and alter at the same time traditional items. Thus the community appropriates foreign or commercial elements in combination with traditional ones to express and create a n e w both familiar and changing identities.

In m u c h the same way the tape recorder has been incorporated into the process of oral transmission and folk criticism as it conveys the content of the glendia from one community to another, while the sewing machine has m a d e possible more elaborate designs on traditional w o m e n ' s dresses in combination with h a n d m a d e stitches. Finally, photographs taken by photographers (especially Liliane de Toledo and Constantine Manos) w h o have visited the village over the past twenty years, complemented by snapshots sent from abroad, have been solidly integrated within the traditional h o m e display.

Modern urban and traditional village worlds are not mutually exclusive then. Instead, through the act of creative selection,

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Olymbites interweave elements from both, in patterns that are continuously changing, to define n e w dimensions of their experiences.

THE GLENDI: "CONVERSATION IN POETRY'' While h o m e interiors become the means by which individual families make statements about themselves and their relationship to the world outside the home, there are also special occasions in which Olymbites engage collectively in the discussion of these issues. The formalized expression of individual identity and definition of the concept of an Olymbos community is given voice in a ritual celebration called the glendi, performed both on the island and in the emigrant communities abroad.

An artistic extension of informal conversations and the airing of the important social and moral concerns of the community, the glendi becomes a means of self-expression, of creation of exquisite musical and poetic compositions, and also of a n e w sense of self and community. Glendia (plural), which can last from one to three consecutive days, are performed on festive occasions such as weddings, saints' days, or simply w h e n good friends get together, and can be private or public, indoor or outdoor. The concept of a glendi is roughly analogous to a "party," but differs significantly from the general term "glendi" as it is applied in the rest of Greece. While in the rest of Greece glendi refers to an animated party, the Olymbos glendi is a highly structured, ritual event that possesses a rich social and cultural meaning for the community.

In the course of the glendi, almost all communication is conducted in the form of sung, exchanged assonant couplets called mandinades, which are freely improvised on the basis of rules and patterns dictated by tradition. The subjects of mandinades encompass and highlight the topical discussions which take place outside the glendi in the community: nostalgia for

Olymbos and its traditional life, the trials but also benefits of emigration, social changes Olymbites have witnessed, and political news. In addition, during a glendi, the most significant relationships in the community and in individual households are affirmed and enacted: those between friends, parents and children, m a n and wife, old and young, emigre and those left behind. Because at the height of the glendi one may air community or personal grievances and losses, from the death of a beloved person to the economic changes witnessed in the village, it is c o m m o n for guests to weep profusely. In fact, a good glendi is judged by the range and intensity of emotions, especially the a m o u n t of weeping it causes among its guests.

New relationships are also established in the glendi context and a variety of solutions to personal or community problems are explored. Through successful and well-timed mandinades, for example, old enmities can be resolved and n e w friendships can begin. Because inglendia grievances are aired, ambivalences and contradictions overcome, and diverse social classes and professions, m a n y n e w to the old Olymbos world, are brought together, glendia help Olymbites adapt to the changes brought about by emigration, and redefine the meaning of being an Olymbitis. Thus in the process of the glendi a symbolic world is constructed that mediates between tradition and change, h o m e and community, Olymbos and other parts of the world, linking Olymbites with often n e w or disparate realms of experience around them.

Those knowledgeable in the complex rules of the glendi and capable of leading the guests to a heightened emotional state are called meraklides or glendi specialists. While in the rest of Greece the term meraklis (singular) refers to passion and skill displayed in performance, in the Olymbos glendi it has serious moral, ritual, and aesthetic connotations. A good meraklis, for example, must understand both the aesthetic rules of the glendi and the social rules of the Olymbos world so that he can monitor w h a t should be sung, to w h o m , w h e n , and for h o w

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long, in a way that considers status, age, occasion, and the personality of the participants. Individual meraklides usually come from a long line of meraklides, and their status in the glendi accords them a position of h o n o r in the community.

The best mandinades composed in a glendi are judged for their aesthetic merit as well as for their social and moral appropriateness. (Was the timing correct, did it serve as an appropriate response to the previous mandinada, did it display sensitivity to someone's mood and knowledge of his family history?, etc.) The most successful mandinades pass into the village's oral repertory and become a means of recording history and bonding people together. Fine or important mandinades are often tape recorded and mailed from one part of the world to another, so that members of the Baltimore community, for instance, can enjoy and comment on performances at a wedding which took place in Rhodes, Peiraeas, or Australia. The newspaper Voice of Olymbos similarly carries praises, congratulations, or condolences in the form of mandinades.

For the guests in Olymbos and Baltimore, the success of the glendi depends exclusively on the existence of kefi (Horis kefi, glendi den yinetai; without kefi, a glendi cannot be created). The term kefi is used in the rest of Greece to describe a festive and carefree mood; in the context of Olymbos' world, kefi refers to a heightened form of experience which manifests itself in disciplined, formalized behavior. It is achieved slowly and systematically through prescribed steps, as singers share increasingly intimate details of their lives in song, continue to drink, and escalate their demonstration of emotions toward each other. As the glendi progresses, the atmosphere becomes emotionally charged and intense. In the course of a night guests become more and more involved in a shared journey traversing a wide range of possible emotions and topics. The ordinary is transformed into extraordinary, and the meaning of individual and community identity is affirmed and, at the

'Αγάπη καί ξενητεμός, χαρά, καημός, μεράκι όλα μονολαέβονται στης μαντινάς τ' αύλάκι. 'Αντώνης Ζωγραφίδης Love and separation, joy, grief, and passion— all flow together in the mandinada's stream.

Andonis Zografidis

Constantine Manos. Public glendi in the Olymbos village square marks the beginning of Lent (photograph © Costa Manos-Magnum)

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Είναι κι εδώ στήν ξενητειά καλό δτα βρεθούμε, άξίζουνε τά ε#ιμα νά τά διατηρούμε.

Even here in this foreign land, it's good when we're together, and it's deserving to preserve intact our own customs.

Liliane de Toledo. Wedding glendi at the Olymbian Brotherhood clubhouse in Baltimore, following church ceremony and catered reception at nearby hotel.

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same time, redefined. Rather than standing apart from the life outside, glendia express and synthesize the often divergent realities of the worlds with which Olymbites have contact.

One of the reasons the glendi is still viable in the changing world of today is because it has historically accommodated both tradition and change. Though being from Olymbos and the Olymbos microcosm of the glendi are defined in terms of "fixedness" (rules, strictness, dedication, discipline), Olymbos' universe is a flexible one in which change has always been incorporated. Similarly, the glendi, viewed as a symbolic recreation of Olymbos' universe reflects indigenous patterns for accommodating change, irregularity, and exception, which become transferred to the larger social context of the village and, eventually, its global settlements.

The very folk terminology defining the aesthetics of the glendi contradicts "fixedness" in that it employs metaphors of fluidity: "glendi is a boat and meraklides the h e l m s m e n , " I have been told. A finely articulated system of folk aesthetics presents the glendi as a process—from mirth to grief, from calmness to a state of altered consciousness, from general themes to themes of private, often painful and intense nature. The course of the glendi event is one of journeying through intricate emotional stages and a network of complex social relationships, to arrive at a newly defined social and emotional balance.

While it is mainly m e n w h o sing or play musical instruments at glendia, w o m e n are far from passive. They prepare and serve the food, an important element in a private glendi; listen attentively and critically, frequently writing d o w n or tape recording successful songs; comment on the quality of performances; and have a decisive role in transmitting good songs and in building or destroying the reputation of a performer.

They compose and sing among themselves the kind of songs sung in a glendi, w h e n alone or in each other's company, and dance at the end of the glendi. Finally, there are occasions on which it is appropriate for w o m e n to take part in the singing

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along with the men. The recent convention of composing traditional couplets and printing t h e m in the newspaper, Voice of Olymbos, has expanded w o m e n ' s role in the glendi, as the print m e d i u m provides them with an additional outlet for poetic composition.

Though extensive participation by some members of the community, for example, w o m e n and priests, is frowned upon, exceptions are possible. At an appropriate occasion, for instance, a w o m a n with k n o w n talent and traditional knowledge w h o comes from a family of ritual specialists can sing w h e n a topic specifically concerns her. Similarly, a priest k n o w n for being a meraklis will be issued conventional invitations through sung couplets by the glendi leaders to facilitate his participation.

What is significant here is that exceptions are "legislated" traditionally, and that aesthetic rules of performance can render the marginal, exceptional, different, or irregular permissible.

Other changes within the glendi, dictated by larger social changes, have been incorporated on the basis of similar, conventional moral and aesthetic rules: the tape recorder and the print media have become integrated within the glendi structure, carrying its content across the various settlements.

New sequences of themes have developed, and a n e w set of symbols combines with the old to convey the meaning of "Olymbos."

LAYERING OF WORLDS: THE TRIPLE WEDDING The 1980 wedding of Popi Sofilla, daughter of one of the main meraklides in Baltimore and sister of one of the best lyra players, is an excellent example of both Olymbites' sense of community and identity and of the vital role of the glendi in this process.

The marriage was arranged, as are traditional Karpathiot marriages, and the groom was from Olymbos. The three part festivities began with a church ceremony where the bride was

dressed in white (as opposed to the embroidered dresses w o r n by brides in Olymbos), an organ accompanied the priest (an instrument foreign to the Byzantine musical tradition), and the bride and groom were flanked by attendants in the American fashion. The wedding ceremony, in short, was dominated by elements of an American Protestant ceremony though it took place in an Orthodox church. Following the ceremony, a reception was held at the Holiday Inn. An American-style banquet was set out while a Greek-American band played a melange of popular tunes. Dress, music, and dance were performed in accordance with the style that has emerged as Greek-American, featuring an integration between revivalist Greek "folk" stylistic elements and elements of Greek and American popular culture.

Dancing followed in the social hall in the basement of the church and included ballroom dancing, urban folk dances such as hasapiko, and the panhellenic dances of tsamiko and kalamatiano, which would never be performed in Olymbos itself.

The guests included Karpathiots from Olymbos and other island villages (the latter usually absent from Olymbos-style glendia), other Greeks, and some Americans. Unlike the austere ritual dances performed in Olymbos' glendia, Olymbos w o m e n n o w performed sensuous, Middle-Eastern style dances, with belly-dancing movements absent from Olymbos or even mainland Greek traditional celebrations. It is important to note that for this group of Olymbos' immigrants, these n e w dances— along with n e w ways of being Greek—were learned in this country, along with the knowledge of "being American."

At 3:00 a.m. these festivities ended, and most of the guests went home. At this point, the Olymbos community gathered

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at the Olymbos clubhouse where preparations for an entirely n e w wedding celebration were evident as if the first one had not taken place. One of the clearest signs of this was the serving of a complete second dinner (though a banquet had been served at the Holiday Inn) consisting only of regional dishes usually served at wedding glendia. Change of costume from Western to Karpathiot (on the part of several w o m e n ) , realignment of social roles, with the meraklides occupying positions of honor, and the establishment of a n e w social hierarchy (indicated in part by the seating arrangement), and finally a different mode of communication—in stylized sung couplets— were the signs of identity switch.

More than a year later, the father, Mr. Sofillas, and his wife, Marina, commented on this "triple" wedding—a frequent practice among Baltimore Olymbites. Asked w h y he couldn't just have a Karpathiot wedding celebration, he responded that as his social life and work involved h i m with the larger Greek and American communities he had incurred obligations he should return. He and his wife stressed the enormous physical and financial drain this "triple" wedding celebration entailed.

"Twice as m u c h money, twice the a m o u n t of preparation. I shudder to think about it" (Marina Sofilla, Baltimore, October 4, 1981). Yet their motives and objectives became clear in our conversation. The ritual exchange of stylized couplets—praising the couple and the parents, bringing messages from those absent, remembering the dead, making allusions to generations of family history, all in the context of an intense and engrossing sense of community—affirms stable relationships and those changed and explores the meaning of being an Olymbitis in Baltimore in a way n o other celebration can.

'Απόψε τούτη ή χαρά εχει περίσσια χάρη, ήλιε μου του μεσημεριού καί της αύγής φεγγάρι. Νίκος Άναστασιάδης This joy tonight has a special loveliness; Like the sun at high noon, and the dawn's round moon.

Nikos Anastasiadis

Constantine Marios. Wedding glendi in Olymbos home (photograph © Costa Manos-Magnum)

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Φούντα μου, άσημόφουντα καί χρυσοκεντητή μου με πόϋο σε φωληάστηκα καί σ'εκανα δική μου. 'Αντρέας Χηράκης My lovely tassel silver tassel embroidered with gold; I built our nest with passion and made you my bride.

Andreas Hirakis

Liliane de Toledo. Wedding in Greek Orthodox Church in Baltimore

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Φούντα μου, άσημόφουντα καί χρυσοκεντητή μου με πόύο σε φωληάστηκα καί σ'εκανα δική μου. 'Αντρέας Χηράκης My lovely tassel silver tassel embroidered with gold; I built our nest with passion and made you my bride.

Andreas Hirakis

Liliane de Toledo. Wedding in Greek Orthodox Church in Baltimore

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'Έφυγε ή 'Αννούλα μου έφυγε ή χαρά μου ποτέ δέ $ά γελάσουνε τά χείλη τά δικά μου Μαρία Κομνηνού Παπανικολάου ( Ά π ό τή Φωνή της 'Ολύμπου) My daughter is gone and my joy has fled; my own two lips will never laugh again.

Maria Komninou Papanikolaou from I Foni tis Olymbou (Voice of Olymbos)

Constantine Manos. Women lament death of a relative at Olymbos grave site. Such ritual laments performed only by women provide them with another vehicle for composing mandinades (photograph © Costa Manos-Magnum).

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Historical depth, artistic richness and excellence, a vast array of symbols, and wide diversity of personal choices in the creation of n e w meaning compose the portrait of this small but complex community.

Making Baltimore h o m e is an ongoing process, far more complex than either transferring Olymbos to Baltimore or rejecting it altogether. The process involves elements from both traditional and modern worlds.

Without any of the familiar markers of a community—land, architecture, traditional occupations—Olymbites around the world have had to explore and redefine identity and build a community that is still meaningful to them. The reconstructed "Olymbos" of the diaspora but also of the village itself is a community not of fixed structures and roles but one created through activity and shared symbolism, a community in continuous motion and redefinition in response to its members' needs and choices. In the absence of physical signals and boundaries for the Olymbos world, the glendi, home interiors, even transcontinental newspapers, become symbolic villages, reconstituted over and over again in repeated performances or actions.

In many ways, the idealized portrait of the "Olymbos world" which comprises a focal point for this generation of Olymbites

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has no physical reality in the changed village of Olymbos or in the ethnic communities abroad. This concept of Olymbos is continuously redefined yet becomes the principal mediator among disparate cultural systems and symbols, and a means of making sense out of what appears to be confusing, contradictory, or unfamiliar. Olymbos' m o m e n t of dramatic transition and redefinition, and its members' daily, often complex, choices in this negotiation, become both a window into the larger, universal quest for meaning in the face of vast change and a magnifying glass for the examination of the elements and processes involved in the creation and recreation of a h u m a n community.

Anna Caraveli Smithsonian Institution

Transliteration of Greek words followed, for the most part, the Guide Sheet of the Modern Greek Studies Association, prepared by P. Bien and J. Loomis.

Χαρά καί πίκρα είναι μαζί, παλεύουν στό κορμί μου, κι δλα τά παραμέλησα 'πόψε γιά τό παιδί μου. 'Ιωάννης Μπαλασκάς Joy and sorrow are joined together, battling inside my body; I put aside all cares tonight for my child's wedding.

Ioannis Balaskas

Constantine Manos. Men in high kefi embrace at a wedding glendi (photograph © Costa Manos- Magnum)

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Mandinades

THE WEDDING OF HIRAKIS' SON I was led to Andreas Hirakis, a shepherd and famed meraklis in Olymbos, by a mandinada he had composed years ago, repeated for me by one of the young m e n of the Baltimore community at a gathering there: I want to let out a shrill cry against the wind's backbone I grieve, I weep, I cry out loud that old age has come.

A few days after my arrival in Olymbos in August 1980, one of Andreas' sons, Yiorgos, wedded the daughter of another shepherd in an arranged marriage. As August is the time w h e n members of the Olymbos diaspora reunite briefly, it has evolved into a m o n t h w h e n m a n y activities and significant celebrations take place. The wedding guests, actors in the soon-to-unfold drama, represented the global dispersion of the Olymbites.

Yiorgos, the groom, had rarely ventured far from the village,

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while his best men, both dentists, resided in Athens. The other guests' occupations ranged from rural workers on the island to businessmen and professionals in cities around the world.

Olymbites say that the glendi isopedonei (the glendi levels all social classes), yet m o d e r n day glendia contend with a wider gamut of class, residence, and occupation than ever before. In the course of the forty or so consecutive hours of the glendi, important themes were developed through mandinades and sustained often for hours each: greetings among friends w h o had been separated for a long time; grievances over the desolation of the village and loss of life-style they once knew; news from each one's place of residence; intimate family dramas; congratulations and praise. The excerpts that follow give an idea of the major exchanges and the range of topics a glendi can cover.

The Wedding of Yiorgos Hirakis August 1980

Ό Γάμος του Γιώργου Χηράκη Αύγουστος 1980

loannis Balaskas (father of the bride) Where can I find wings for sale and buy them tonight?

I'll fasten them tightly on my body and fly through joy on them.

'Ιωάννης Μ π α λ α σ κ ά ς Που τά πουλάνε τά φτερά νά π ά ω ν ' ά γ ο ρ ά σ ω , νά βάλω στό κ ο ρ μ ά κ ι μου ά π ό ψ ε νά πετάξω;

loannis Fasakis (uncle of bride) My eyes are running like winter springs; my niece is marrying and I can't believe it still.

'Ιωάννης Φ α σ ά κ η ς Τρέχουσι τά μ α τ ά κ ι α μου σά βρύσες του χειμώνα παντρεύτηκε ή άνηψιά, δεν τό πιστεύω ά κ ό μ α .

Andreas Hirakis (father of the groom, to the lyra player who lives Baltimore) Play me your lyra young man, don't hide me a single note; and when you'll travel far away your tunes will stay with me.

'Αντρέας Χ η ρ ά κ η ς ( στόν Μανώλη Σοφίλλα ) Παίξε λεβέντη τό λυρί καί νότα μή μου κρύψης, καί σά ϋά πάεις στά μακριά άνάμνηση $ ' ά φ ή σ η ς .

loannis Fasakis In this neighborhood we are visiting, people have changed now; old neighbors who lived here once, come to my mind tonight.

I remember your fathers who dwelled inside my heart.

I rejoice that you are so much like them, my children.

'Ιωάννης Φ α σ ά κ η ς Σέ τούτη δώ τή γειτονειά ά λ λ ά ξ α ν οι ά ν $ ρ ώ π ο ι ό π ω ς θυμούμαι μένασι έδώ γύρω γειτόνοι. Θυμούμαι τούς πατέρες σ α ς ά π ο ΰ χ α στήν καρδιά μου χαίρομαι πού τούς μοιάζετε όλοι πολύ παιδιά μου.

Yiannis Diakoyeoryiou The neighborhood is wasted! Its mansions tightly sealed!

And all those raised in its midst, scattered in foreign lands.

I can't pass by this neighborhood any more my friends; deep sorrow shrouds my heart in black, vast sheets.

Γιάννης Διακογεωργίου Έ φ κ α ί ρ ω σ ε ν ή γειτονειά τ ' ά ρ χ ο ν τ ι κ ά έκλεισα κι όσοι έτράφησαν έδώ στίς ξενητειές σ κ ό ρ π ι σ α ν Έ γ ώ ά π ό τή γειτονειά δέ ϋέλω νά π ε ρ ά σ ω καί την καρδιά μου κάνε τη ώσά τό μαύρο ράσο.

Fasakis We were raised in it like a large family; the neighborhood is imprinted on my mind.

Φασάκης Σά μία 'κογένεια είμαστε όλοι άνα#ρεμμένοι είς τό μυαλό μου ή γειτονειά είναι ζωγραφισμένη.

Yiannis Diakoyeoryiou I remember and cannot forget our childhood years there; these years live inside my mind, Yianni, my dear friend.

Cool breezes breathe through the streets, and you can inhale them when you return each summer.

My heart, friends, has found no match anywhere else; that's why I return to this village each summer.

Γ. Διακογεωργίου Θυμούμαι τα τά παιδικά δέ τά ξ ε χ ν ώ ποτέ μου καί μεσ' τό νου μου βρίσκονται Γιάννη ά γ α π η τ έ μου. Στή γειτονειά Μ βρίσκεται τό δροσερό άγέρι καί ν ' ά ν α π ν έ ε ι ς ν ' ά ρ χ ε σ α ι τό κ ά $ ε καλοκαίρι. 'Εμένα ή κ α ρ δ ο ύ λ α μου παιδιά εν έχει ταίρι, γι'αύτό έρχομαι είσ τό χωριό καί κ ά # ε . κ α λ ο κ α ί ρ ι .

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Kalliopi (sister of the groom; her young husband was institutionalized in a mental hospital, and Kalliopi still grieves over this misfortune.

Here she addresses her brother, the groom, and alludes to her own grief in the last couplet.)

Sing out your tune Yioryi, like the trill of a bird and for your own sake I will be filled with joy.

Are you perchance proud of your tender youth, or for the lovely partridge flown into your arms?

At every hard moment, at every blow of wind turn to our old home, so the old man won't grieve.

You are leaving and the joy is leaving the household, but take along our blessings for faithful companion.

My darkly speaking kefi, I want you tonight, come!

Wounded heart of mine, let yourself be moved to laughter!

Καλλιόπη Χ η ρ ά κ η

Γλυκά καλαηδησέτονε Γιώργη μας τό σ κ ο π ό σου, κι'έγώ έν$ουσιάζομαι χατήρι έδικό σου. Μ π α ς καί περηφανεύεσαι διά τή λεβεντιά σου, γιά τήν ώραΐα πέρδικα πούρ$ε στήν άγγαλιά σου ; Σέ κ ά $ ε δύσκολη στιγμή σά φύσημα τ ' ά έ ρ ο ς νά στρέφεσαι στό σπίτι μας νά μή χολιά ό γέρος. Φεύγεις καί φεύγουν οί χ α ρ έ ς ά π ό τό σπιτικό μας, μά νάχεις π ά ν τ α τήν εύχή σύντροφο όλονών μας. Κέφι μου βαρυμίλητο #έλωσε ά π ό ψ ε κι έλα ώ πληγωμένη μου καρδιά καί άμα$έλεις γέλα.

(In the mandinades that follow [omitted here] Kalliopi's unhappy marriage is discussed, changing the mood from joy to sadness.)

Mihalis Hirakis (brother) I curse these relatives who came to your wedding and drenched your heart in sorrow and grief our child.

Μ ι χ ά λ η ς Χ η ρ ά κ η ς ( άδερφός ) Τούς β λ α σ τ η μ ώ τούς συγγενείς π ο ΰ ρ # α ν στήν παντρειά σου καί πνίξα μεσ'τά β ά σ α ν α παιϊ μας τήν καρδιά σου.

Sofia (sister, angered by Kalliopi's reference to the family tragedy) Why are you scratching at the wound that does not want to heal and pour in it burning salt instead of soothing balm.

Σοφία Κρητικού ( άδελφή ) Γιατί μας ξύνεις τήν πληγή που νά κλειστή δέν λέει μ'άντί γιά λάδι ρίχνεις μας αλάτι καί μας καίει.

(While I tape recorded the entire glendi, such activity, far from being disruptive, fitted neatly into a glendi convention: the documentation of successful mandinades is historically part of the glendi performance. Moreover, as mandinades are improvised, any spontaneous occurrence can be incorporated into the glendi. The glendi process—its artistry, the difficulty of a particular composition, the appropriateness of a tune—all become topics of songs as the following mandinades demonstrate.)

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Mihalis Zografidis (son-in-law of Andreas Hirakis) Look at the tape recorders taping away!

They've sent them from afar to find you, Hiraki.

Μ ι χ ά λ η ς Ζωγραφίδης Θωρείς τά μαγνητόφωνα π ώ ς μαγνητοφωνοϋσι ά π ό μακριά τά στείλασι νά 'ρ$ούσι νάσέ βροϋσι.

Andreas Ah but my damn kefi is stumbling somewhere tonight! just when I wanted it to have so much success.

Αντρέας Χηράκης Καί τό ρημάϊ κέφι μου που είναι πού σκοντάφτει άπού πε$ύμου κι'έγώ έπιτυχία νάχει.

Mihalis Zografidis (to Anna Caraveli) Take down our tunes faithfully in your tape recorder because you'll never find the equal of the man singing here.

Μιχ. Ζωγραφίδης Καλά νά γράφης τούς σ κ ο π ο ύ ς στο μαγνητόφωνο σου γιατί αύτός που τραγουδεΐ εν έχει όμοιό του

loannis Fasakis When you go to America and find our fellow villagers take them greetings from all of us, greet them one by one.

When you go to America where you will represent us praise Karpathos to them well and tell them nice things.

I. Φ α σ ά κ η ς Σάν π ά ς είς τήν Α μ ε ρ ι κ ή καί βρής τούς χωριανούς μας καί πάρε χαιρετίσματα χώρια του καμένους μας. Σάν π ά ς είς τήν Α μ ε ρ ι κ ή πού μας έ κ π ρ ο σ ω π ε ΐ τ ε κουβέντες γιά τήν Κ ά ρ π α θ ο όμορφες νά τούς πήτε.

Andreas With all this machinery, surely man can't die!

What if my body rots away if my voice stays on.

Α ν τ ρ έ α ς Χηράκης Μ ' α ύ τ ά τά μ η χ α ν ή μ α τ α ά ν θ ρ ω π ο ς δέν πεθαίνει : νά λυώση καί τό σώμα μου, ά μ ' ή φωνή μού μένει.

(It is n o w dawn. Andreas' youngest son, Yiannis, returns from the pasture. He is soon to be drafted into the army.)

( Είναι Αύγή. Ό μικρότερος γυιός του 'Αντρέα, ό Γιάννης, έπιστρέφει ά π ' τή βοσκή ).

Andreas You've come child from the mountains, my own two eyes, my light.

Soon others will snatch you away from me, and I'll be left alone.

'Αντρέας Ή ρ τ ε ς παιί μου ά π ' τ ά βουνά μ α τ ά κ ι α μου καί φώς μου, σέ λίγο άλλοι σέ παίρουσι καί μένω μ ο ν α χ ό ς μου.

Mihalis Zografidis How do you catch the flying birds criss-crossing the blue air?

How can you match your father's kefi tonight, show us!

How we long to hear you, young relative; our dear co-in-law!* You've come from the barren mountains sweet nightingale.

Μιχ. Ζωγραφίδης Είς του άέρα τά πουλιά πού πάσι π ώ ς τά πιάνεις ; στό γλέντι του πατέρα σου νά δώ αν μοιάσης Γιάννη. Π ώ ς ή$ελα νά σ ' ά κ ο υ γ α κ α λ ό συμπε$εράκι, καί τώρα πούρ#ες ά π ' τά βουνά γ λ υ κ ό χελιδονάκι.

Andreas Hirakis And how did you find the fatted flock, tell me my little child?

Soon they'll be sold to the last one, my soul has told me so.

'Αντρέας Χηράκης Καί π ώ ς τά βρήκες τά σ φ α χ τ ά , πές μου μικρό παιί μου, πού γλήγορα ϋά πουληθούν μού τό' πεν ή ψυχή μου.

* Greek kinship term

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Kalliopi Tell us little brother, of the mountains, what garments are they wearing now that their shepherds are leaving them, casting their glance behind.

Καλλιόπη Χ η ρ ά κ η Πες μου Γιαννάκη τά βουνά, τί φορεσιά φοροϋσι, τώρα που φεύγουν οί βοσκοί καί τά ξανα$ωρούσι.

Andreas (to Kalliopi) Daughter, the mountains are wasted and moss has blocked their paths

Α ν τ ρ έ α ς Χ η ρ ά κ η ς ( Στήν Καλλιόπη ) Καλλιό ρημάξαν τά βουνά, φράξαν τά μονοπάτια, καί σά $ ω ρ ώ τά μάτια μου ρίχνουσι μαύρα δ ά κ ρ υ α .

and as I look at them like this, black tears shroud my eyes.

Kalliopi Father, give me back my shepherd's staff if you have kept it still; and I'll take to the mountain my old shepherd's chores.

Yiannis Hirakis Damn those city jobs and those who invent them that will not let you take root, take sorrow and joy upon you.

(After a few hours, the themes return to the wedding—praising the young couple—and the first day of the glendi culminates with a dance.)

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Καλλιόπη Χ η ρ ά κ η Δ ώ σ ' μου τό γκινοράβδι μου άν τόχεις φυλαγμένο, νά π ά ω γώ στά π ρ ό β α τ α ώ ς ήμουν μαδημένο. Γιάννης Χ η ρ ά κ η ς Ά ν ά $ ε μ ά τες γιά δουλειές όπου τις έχει βγάλει καί δέν μπορείς νά στεριω#ής χ α ρ ά καί πίκρα ναχεις.

Carnival glendi in Baltimore, February 16, 1980 Setting: The Clubhouse of the Olymbian Brotherhood on Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown. Singers are referred to as A, B, and C. Meraklides participating were, among others: Vasilis Kakarolis, Yiannis Sofillas, and Nikolatos Hadzinikolas.

A

Olymbos has affection for all its old customs.

Though far and in exile, you must keep them forever.

Γλέντι Α π ό κ ρ ι α ς στο Σύλλογο της ' Α δ ε λ φ ό τ η τ α ς Ό λ υ μ π ι τ ώ ν στή Βαλτιμόρη, 16 Φεβρουαρίου, 1980. ( Τίς μαντινάδες τραγούδησαν οι κ . κ . Κακαρόλης, Κρητικός, Χατζηνικόλας ).

Α. ' Έ χ ε ι στοργήν ή "Ολυμπος γιά τά έ$ίματα της #έλει νά τά κρατήσετε κι αν είσαστε μακριά της.

Β Even here in this foreign land, it's good when we're together and it's deserving to preserve intact our own customs.

Β. Είναι κι έδώ στήν ξενητειά κ α λ ό όταν βρεθούμε άξίζουνε τά έ$ιμα νά τά διατηρούμε.

C The passing years have brought on this uprooting upon us, and one by one, and slowly, we've come to Baltimore.

The loveliest of visions this movement back and forth as we gaze at the dancers dance, as if. . . (inaudible).

Γ. 'Ετούτο τό ξενήτεμα τό φέρανε οί χρόνοι κι ένας-ένας ή ρ θ α μ ε μέσα στή Βαλτιμόρη.

Β This Sunday before Lent, breaking on us this dawn is giving birth to old thoughts inside of me my friends.

Β. Ή Τυρινή ή Κυριακή άπ'αυριο ξημερώνει πολλά παληά στή σκέψη μου φίλοι άνανεώνει.

A

Α. Μήτε κι έδώ μήτε κι έκεΐ ό τ ό π ο ς μας σηκώνει, καί σιγανά κυλούν γιά μας οί έρημοι οί χρόνοι.

Neither here nor there can the soil nourish us; for us years pass by—solitary and bitter.

Τό πιό ώραΐο πού $ ω ρ ώ τό πήγαινε καί έλα γιά νά θωρούμε τό χ ο ρ ό . . .

Β Ah years—past years, good years I remember! yet I curse them all a thousand times! They've made me an old man.

Β. Χρόνια κ α λ ά καί όμορφα θυμούμαι πού περάσα Ά μ ε τά χιλιοβλαστημώ γιατί μας έγεράσα.

A I grieve and cannot decide; I grieve and my mind is muddled.

It seems that if I'm still alive, I should return one day.

Α. Αυπούμαι καί δέν έμπορώ, π ώ ς νά τ ' ά π ο φ α σ ί σ ω , Αέω αν είμαι στή ζωή οπίσω νά γυρίσω.

C All of us should love our land's traditions and keep them up as we found them ever from this far.

Γ. Τά έ#ιμα του τόπου μας, όλοι μας νά άγαπούμε, καί τώρα δώ πού ή ρ θ α μ ε πρέπει νά τά τηρούμε.

All translations are by Anna Caraveli.

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Selected Bibliography

General Sources for the Study of Folklore and the Oral Tradition Dan Ben-Amos and Kenneth S. Goldstein, eds. Folklore: Performance and Communication. The Hague: Mouton, 1975.

Ruth Finnegan. Oral Poetry. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Henry Glassie; Edward D. Ives; and John F. Szwed. Folksongs and their Makers. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green Popular Press, 1971.

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. "Studying Immigrant and Ethnic Folklore." Handbook of American Folklore. Edited by Richard M. Dorson, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1983.

Albert Bates Lord. The Singer of Tales. 1960. Reprint. New York: Atheneum, 1965.

Sources for Greek Folklore and Collections of Folksongs Margaret Alexiou. The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1974.

P. Aravandinos. Sylloyi Dimodon Asmaton tis Epirou [Collection of Folksongs of Epiros]. Athens: Petros Perris, 1880.

Samuel Baud-Bovy. Chansons du Dodecanese, 2 vols. Athens, 1935.

Roderick Beaton. Folk Poetry of Modern Greece. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

Anna Caraveli. "The Song Beyond the Song: Aesthetics and Social Interaction in Greek Folksong." Journal of American Folklore 95, pp. 129-158.

Loring Danforth. The Death Rituals of Rural Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.

Juliet Du Boulay. Portrait of a Greek Mountain Village. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974.

Claude Fauriel. Chants Populaires de la Grece Moderne. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1824.

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Michael Herzfeld. Ours Once More: Folklore, Ideology and the Making of Modern Greece. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.

Dimitrios Loukatos. Eisagogi stin Elliniki Laographia [Introduction to Greek Folklore]. Athens: Morfotiko Idrima Ellinikis Trapezis, 1978.

Dimitrios Loukatos. Ta Kalokairina. Athens: Filippotis, 1981.

Dimitrios A. Petropoulos. Ellinika dimotika tragoudia [Greek Folksongs]. Athens: Vasiki Vivliothiki, 1959.

N.G. Politis. Eklogai apo ta tragoudia tou laou mas [Selections from the Songs of Our People]. 1914. Reprint. Athens: Dionysos, 1975.

Nicholas M. Prevas. History of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation. Baltimore: Nicholas M. Prevas, 1982.

Selected Studies of Karpathos Sotirios Agapitidis. "I Ikonomikes Drastiriotities stis Parimies tis Kinotitos Olymbous, Karpathou" [Economic Activities in the Sayings of Olymbos, Karpathos]. Karpathiakai Meletai [Karpathian Studies], vol. I. Athens: Etairia Karpathiakon Meleton, 1979.

Simon Karas. "I Karpathos Kai ta tragoudia tis" [Karpathos and its Songs]. Karpathiakai Meletai, vol. I. Athens: Etairia Karpathaikon Meleton, 1979.

Fotini Karayeoryi-Halkia. "Kinoniki Kai Ikonomiki Anaptiksi Nisou Karpathou" [Social and Economic Development of the Island of Karpathos]. Karpathiakai Meletai, vol. II. Athens: Etairia Karpathiakon Meleton, 1980.

Mihail G. Mihailidis-Nouaros. Laografika Symmikta Karpathou [Folkloristics of Karpathos]. 1934. Reprint, vol. I, 1969; reprint, vol.

II, 1979. Athens: Syllogos Apandahou Karpathion.

Demetrios Agamemnon Philippides. "The Vernacular Design Setting of Elymbos: A Rural Spatial System in Greece." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 1973.

Μυρίζουν τά σοκκάκια σου βασιλικό καί δυόσμο, κι έχεις παιδιά σημαντικά καί ξακουστά στόν κόσμο. Καλλιόπη Χηράκη Your narrow alleys are fragrant with basil and mint; your children are important and renowned in the world.

Kalliopi Hiraki

j *

vim\

Liliane de Toledo. Child in Baltimore alley dressed for festive occasion.

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