Fun comes with the "Greek Carnival"

Fun comes with the "Greek Carnival"

Greece lives in a Carnival atmospere. I wanted to transfer some of this atmospere at my blog page and I visited the center of Athens in order to shoot some photos and present them to you. The Greek Carnival has come. After the tough times that still exist at my life and troubles my mind I needed some fun... I needed to be part of the people who are ready to place their masks and start singing and dancing at the Carnival. The Greek Carnival has its roots in ancient Greece. It is connected with the worship of Dionysus, God of wine and celebration. The word "Carnival" actually comes from the Latin "carnem levare", or "carnis levamen", which means, "the discontinuation of eating meat". In Greek the word used is "apokria" and it means the same. In fact, it's a three-week Carnival period, which begins 60 days before Easter. It's called The Triodion. The word comes from "tris odes" that means the three hymns that we use to say at Churches. It starts the first Sunday, which is referred to the Gospel of "Telonis and Farisaios". The second Sunday, to the Gospel of "The Rebel Son". The third is the "Meat Eating Sunday" (Apokria) and the last Sunday of Carnival, during which, celebrations and festivities reach a climax, is the "Cheese Eating Sunday" (Tirofagou). The end of Carnival is on next day's dawn: the first day of Lent, which is Clean Monday (Ash Monday). During all this time, parties and festivities are organized everywhere and people have a great time, especially children. Both adults and children are dressed up with funny costumes; they dance, sing and watch Carnival Parades and other activities, organized by municipalities of almost every town in Greece.

I visited the center of Athens and I enjoyed this carnival atmospere at the city's streets and squares. At Kotzia Square, outside the City Hall a famous traditional group entertained the citizens with "Nisiotika" (traditional songs from the islands of the Aegean Sea). Stella Konitopoulou, the singer was there to remind everybody that the Carnival has come and it is time to start the dance. In Athens the last two weekends bring thousands of revelers to the Plaka and Psiri neighborhoods where the streets are full, as are the clubs, bars, restaurants and discos. Walking the narrow streets one is hit on the head with plastic squeaking clubs. These clubs are thought to be a remnant of the veneration of the phallus from the ancient Dionysian festivals of Athens. Confetti is constantly being thrown and by 2am the streets are ankle deep in it. In the daytime children in costume come downtown and in the neighborhood of Moschaton the streets are closed to traffic and filled with people, many in costume who watch singers and dancers on outdoor stages and a parade of floats.

At the center of Athens, at the Constitution's square the King of Carnival has taken his place and attracts the attention of the people who visit the area. The King of Carnival is the center of celebration for this year and he is really a strange but also funny statue. People come closer to him to take pictures and the kids look at him with a huge smile at their faces.

This popular tradition stems from the pagan rites of the ancient Greeks and the festivals of Dionysus, god of wine and merrymaking. People would disguise themselves as satyrs or wear masks and pour into the streets and neighborhoods behaving "inappropriately" with risque phrases and actions. This served the purpose of allowing the free expression of erotic thoughts while hiding their true identity behind masks. This tradition eventually spread to other parts of the world through the Roman Empire and the discovery of the New World. However, the pagan practices were so deeply rooted that they were not completely abolished. Later, when Christianism appeared, even though people stopped worshipping the Gods of Olympus the Greek's' habit of getting dressed up and of celebrating in the streets remained. Once a year, at around this time, carnivals take place in various cities and towns of our country.

Dionysus is the son of Zeus, chief of the Olympians, and Semele, a woman of Thebes, according to the most used geneology. Dionysos is the god of wine and madness, vegetation, and the theatre, and was the focus of various mystery cults (which were not, perhaps, exactly cults, but let's not get into that). Dionysus is a strange god. Although he is best known as the god of wine, he is also a vegetation deity, a god of the liquid element, a death god, a god who comes into and changes, often irrevocably, the normal community life, and lastly the god of the theatre. Dionysus is the wine-god, and thus should be a pleasant fellow, a benefactor. But wine has both positive and negative aspects. It makes people drunk, causes them to behave in strange ways. The Greeks were well aware of the dual natures of wine, mirrored by the dual nature of its god. The duality of Dionysus is related to another of his attributes, which is that of loss of identity. The actors in the plays performed for Dionysos were masked; the mask symbolized the submersion of their identity into that of another. Wine also has the effect of submerging the normal personality of the person who drinks it. Dionysos made a habit of stealing the identities of his worshippers; the bacchants dancing on the mountainside have no separate personalities; they are mad, crazed, they have been taken over by the god; and they are all alike. Dionysos induces mass hysteria, he is the god of mob fury. This loss of individuality is demonstrated in the theatre not only by the masks which the actors wear, but also by the chorus. They dance and sing in unison, all chanting the same words. The members of the chorus have no identity, each is merely an insignificant part of the whole, with no separate will. All individuality and willpower must be given up to Dionysus, when the god choses to take it.

Coming to the present, Greek Carnival continues a tradition that has been established thousand years ago. Greeks every year following the tradition of the new religion celebrate with the same way at the same period of the year the same ancient festival. People in fancy dresses go out in the streets, accompanied by the music of municipal bands. It's the day of the Carnival Parade! The parade is made up of groups of people in disguise, floats, and dancers. The themes of each of the floats in the procession are different and most all make fun in rhyming verse of situations and events depicting the politics and life of Greek society in general as well as other international events. These satirical verses and the performers' costume amuse a lot the spectators. In the later afternoon hours you will find the last event-taking place. The people will gather in a central square for food, drink and dance. This is the end of the Parade. The final event will be the burning of the Carnival King in a big bonfire as everyone dances around it. Some times there are just fires called "fani", and people sing satirical songs and dance traditional dances. The songs usually have many sexual implies and among the dances are some with theatrical character, where some male dancers, pretend to be women. Carnival Parades take place in many cities, towns and villages in Greece, and are very spectacular. Some of the biggest parades take place in Athens (Rendi carnival), Xanthi, Patras. In fact, Patras Carnival is the most well known in Greece. My plan for this year is to be part of this celebration. I have bought my costume and I am going to travel in Patra. I will be dressed as a devil princess and I am going to sing and dance at the crowded streets of the town that leads the celebration in Greece. I invite all my friends to be part of the Greek Carnival. Enjoy the happy and fun days that comes and start sing and dance for the King of the Carnival.