As all of you know I am a Greek. I have born and raised under the Greek tradition and culture which is connected with the Greek Orthodox Church. More than 90% of the people living in Greece are Greeks and more than 90% of the Greeks are Greek Orthodox Christians. I belong to this 90% of Greeks. I am a Greek Orthodox Christian.

Today is a holly day for Greece. A religious holiday. We celebrate the Dormition of Theotokos (Mother of God).

Holy Mother, our beloved Panagia has the highest place at the heart of a Greek. When something scares a Greek the phrase "Panagia mou" is the first that comes at his/her mouth. When something could not understand again this phrase is designed at his/her mind.

Holy Mother has replaced at the heart of a Greek the ancient Goddess Hera and before her Gaia, the Big Mother. Samos was Hera's birthplace and the center of her adoration. That expains a lot the strong and long relationship of a Samian man and woman with "Panagia", The Holy Mother.

All over Greece, rooms are hard to find, tickets on ferries and hydrofoils almost impossible to get, buses and trains are on modified schedules, and fasting Greeks are spending two weeks in reverential deprivation to prepare for the Feast of the Dormition (also called Assumption) on August 15th. This date in the Greek Orthodox calendar marks the moment when the devout believe that Mary, the Theotokos, ascended into Heaven.

It's traditional to return to home villages, so even remote locations are busier than usual as the Greeks of the diaspora return to their homeland to connect with family, visit friends, and immerse themselves in the ancient rituals, culture, and practice of being Greek Orthodox.

The Koimisis tis Theotokou, Dormition of the Virgin Mary, or Assumption of the Virgin Mary all are names referring to the feast commemorating what is believed to be the miraculous transport of Mary, in bodily form, to Heaven after her death. Some accounts claim that she died in Jerusalem, others put her death at the Graeco-Roman city of Ephesus, now in Turkey, and the site of an alleged "House of the Virgin Mary".

The Ephesian origin is plausible as it was the Council of Ephesus which first proclaimed the feast. The story itself does not appear in the Bible, but is found in apocryphal stories and folklore, with written records dating back to as early as the third century. Accounts of the story differ, but here are the basic details.

Saint Thomas, who had been preaching in far-off India, found himself swept up in a swirling cloud which took him to a spot in the air above her tomb, where he witnessed her ascent. He asked her where she was going; in answer, she tossed her girdle to him.

Thomas ultimately landed near the tomb, where he met the other surviving apostles. He begged them to let him see her body so that he could say goodbye, and that's when it was discovered that she had left the earth in body and in spirit, to intercede on the behalf of the faithful. The apostles found her clothes left behind in the tomb, where they emanated a wonderful fragrance, a true "odor of sanctity".

Churches throughout the country celebrate the feast with traditions which vary from place to place. Rural churches are jammed with not only worshippers, but offerings in the form of animals, property, and food; some churches even hold an auction of these offerings during the celebrations, though this custom -and livestock offerings- are less common today.

Greeks of the Orthodox faith prepare themselves by fourteen days of fasting, from August 1st to the 14th, which is joyfully broken on the 15th. The frenzied travel home that many Greeks undertake is also a kind of pilgrimage, to family, culture, faith, and country. It's a rich and wonderful, if crowded, time to be in Greece.

For Samians and mostly those who have born at the western part of the island it is a date, a meeting at their home place at this particular day. We see each other and we share memories with friends who have left from the island many years ago and live in some other places of Greece or abroad.

I try to arrange everything in order to be this period each year in my island and my home town Karlovasi which has as main church a church who honors this particular religion event, the church of the "Dormition of the Mother of God". That is the church I was baptised and this is the church where I got married and baptised one of my kids.

Everybody pass under it making their prayer. Asking something for the Holly Mother... making their wishes for good health and hapiness.

This celebration is part of the Greek tradition which has tight relationships with Greek Orthodox Church.

Part of our tradition is also the celebration of the name day for a man or a woman. For a Greek a name day is more important than the birthday. The Greek who celebrates his/her name opens his/her home offering food, wine and deserts to friends and relatives and is ready to accept gifts by them. Today the celebrating their Name Day Greeks are all who have the name and surnames of the Holy Mother and are: Maria, Marios, Panagiotis, Panagiota and Despina.

I finish this blog with the phrase from the Bishop of Samos' stirring speech.

"Holy Mother is the ambassador of the humans to God and in the materialistic world which we live we need the spiritual uplift that only Her can offer to us."

And the classic Greek wish:
"Xronia Polla (Many Years) to all of you!!!"