Sometime on Tinos – An ethnographic palimpsest

Throughout my childhood, Tinos existed as a place of revelations for me. Having numerous relatives on the island and spending my summers and sometimes other festivities there too, I was gently immersed into a rhythm of life different to that of Athens. As an adolescent, when poetry began to pluck mystical chords within me, Tinos always surfaced as the centre of my archipelago. Surrounded by Naxos (my father’s native island), Mykonos (where my brother Matthew, an artist, had a gallery) and Syros (home to other relations), as well as other Cycladic islands beyond (for excursions), Tinos was invariably my point of departure and return. Place and man -“his natural and cultural environment”, as I would term it today- held a fascination for me even at this early age when I roamed its villages without folkloristic intentions. My concern then was to enjoy life and play an active role in it. Incidentally, I did take some notes regarding “ethnographic stories”, which I had planned to write but never actually did. […] (From the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

Sometime on Tinos… myself. Wayfaring for local research
Factors influencing Tinian popular culture
Farmers and Townsfolk on Tinos. Segregation, divisions and conflict
The Virgin Mary in Tinian folk tradition
A good start to the New Year. Wish-making and luck-binding traditions
Epiphany (January 6). Blessing of the waters and renewal by the Holy Spirit
Masquerades at the fountain. Carnival and Clean Monday on Tinos in times gone by
“Christ Is Risen”. The aroma and feast of “Lambri” (Easter)
From Easter till Ascension Day. The forty holy days of Spring
The leader of the dance. The language of lyrics and sound
Feast of St. John the “Fotaras” or “Klidonas”. Fires and divination during the Summer Solstice
Prophet Elias. The Patron Saint of rain and the sacredness of high locations
“Ayelloudes”. Their manifestation and how to ward off their menacing presence
Tinos – the island of Aeolus. The role of nature within culture
“How much game did you shoot?” Hunting, as a dietary source and recreational activity for nature-lovers
Good sowing for a better yield. Farming technology and ideology, Part a
The harvest and threshing floor. Farming technology and ideology, Part b
Celebrating the “Choirosfagia”. The Pig-slaughter in farming families