Dance at Olymbos, Karpathos

Dance at Olymbos, Karpathos
Cultural Change and Political Confrontations
1
PAVLOS KAVOUR \>
Hie dances of a people are an integral part ol its
culture. In traditional societies the relationship between
dance and culture is a symbolic one: dance is at once a
vehicle lor the creation o f folk culture and a product or
expression of it.- In any traditional society dance is a
medium of expression shared by all members. To the
dancers themselves, the traditional dances of their
homeland symbolize the very culture o f their people.'
I he central thesis of this article is that dance has two
distinct yet interconnected dimensions, a political and a
cultural. I shall demonstrate that dance is a means through
whkh ihc participants (1) express their political differences
according to their economic and social interests, and (2)
active!) experience their cultural identity as members ol
a traditional community.
During the last twenty years there has been a bur
geoning of systematic anthropological research on
dance. 4 Within this clime, Greek and foreign anthropo­
logists have focused their attentions on Greek dance,
shedding light on its social, political and cultural
dimensions. 3 Of these studies, the approach adopted by
Cowan is of particular interest here, since it examines
dance as a political and cultural phenomenon.
( Owan explores the relationship between dance and
politics, treating dance as a social practice with a struc­
tural, hermeneutical and political-ideological content.''
Mei approach is based on the premise that culture is a form
of "hegemony . that is a means of imposing and
niizing the ideas of dominant political groups within
a particular society. 1 She demonstrates that there is not
JUSI one practice associated with dance but as many
practices as there are social groups with conflicting
interests. However, one fundamental drawback to this
approach is that cultural relationships are reduced to
socio-political practices with hegemonic or anti-hegemonic
significance, thus precluding ι he study of the symbolic
rtsiorj ol dance (which, more than any other, is its
cultural dimension).
In this pape- I shall studs dance as a political and
cultural rite. More specifically. I shall examine the evo­
lution of dance at Olymbos, Karpathos in relation to the
major social and cultural changes experienced by the
people of this village. On Karpailms, as in other rural areas
Of Greece, dance is an integral part of a community ritual
known as the g/end/, a word meaning "revelry, feast*
li •
ί> most important to study dance in relation to thee/end/
because κ is in these arenas that the Olymbians as a
community express ritually (heir relationship with the
world.
I shall present the evolution of the Olymbos dance in
three stages, l i r s i 1 shall describe a typical dance ai a
contemporary local festival {paaiyiri), ι hen I shall en
the question o f the dance tradition, and finally, I shall
examine the prcsent-dav phenomenon o\ commercial­
ization of dance, focusing on its cultural and political
dimensions.
A. The Festival of Saint John (The Paniyiri of \i-\:umi->t
Every year, starting on 28th August, ipaaiyiri
is held
at Olymbos in honoui oi Si lohn the Baptist. rhispamyiri
and the celebration of the D o m i n i o n of the Virgin on
August I5lh are the most important community events in
Olymbos. Whereas the D o m i n i o n is celebraied in the
village, the paniyiri ol Λι ϊ annis is held at two outlying
locations, \vlona and Y r o u k o u n d a . ol' symbolic
importance tor the Olymbians. Avlona, about an hour's
walk north of the village, is the larges• expanse of Hat land
hereabouts and was once the "granary
of Olymbos.
Some two and a hall hours further on is Vroukounda. a
coastal site whose history '-''>es back to Classical times.
Inside a subterranean cave by the sea. there is a tiny chapel
of Saint John the Baptist.
T o elderly Olymbians Avlona is a potent symbol of
their culture, for this plain was the centre oi agricultural
activities al Olymbos up until the mid 1 9 5 0 S J The land
was abandoned because of the mass emigration from the
village in the 1950s and 1960s."* In contrast to Avlona.
which is an incontrovertible symbol of the old unity ol
the Olymbians, Vroukounda is a contemporary cultural
symbol of two-fold significance: it represents both the
break-up ol the Olymbos community and the longing oi
Olymbians o\ the diaspora to be part o\ a community
again. To the Olymbians the beheading oi Saint I
svmboli/es the fragmentation (indeed, the decapitai
o\ their community through emigration. This symbolism
enables contemporary Olymbians to invoke the saint s
spiritual power: they request his intercession that they
ι?:•!
might regain their lost unity as .1 people and live once more
as a community.
I he symbolic significance of the pani) iri of Ai-Yuimis
is heightened by the fact that emigrants from Olymbos
who spend their summer vacations there nearly all go back
to their places of domicile at the end of August, just after
the least ol Saint lolin. Thus the paniyiri is the last
opportunity for all Otymbians
those residing perman­
ently in Olymbos and those living in other parts of Greece
and abroad - to least together and to experience actively
the unity of the Olvmbian world as one community.
Besides being a religious holiday. Uiepaniyiri of Ai-Yannis
is the most dramatic representation of the present cultural
ciisis in the life of the Otymbians.
The Dance at the paniyiri of \i-Yunnis
In 1989 I was at the Paniyiri of \i-)annis and look
pari in the Festivities. Early in the morning of August 28th
a steady stream of people and pack animals loaded with
provisions, set out from Olymbos lor Vroukounda, an
arduous trek lasting some four hours, during which the
walkers are exposed to the searing heat of the sun and nui-t
negotiate difficult uphill paths. Though the journcv is
usually made on foot, on the occasion of the 1989paniyiri
about half the people went to Vroukounda by caique from
Dhiafani (the outport of Olymbos), which drew some verycaustic comments from many Olymbians.
On arrival at Vroukounda everyone threw themselves
into the work of getting the place read) foi the paniyiri.
Women spread their blankets on the gently-sloping bank
round lhe concrete platform to keep places lor their
family, while a group ol men rigged up a large plastic
awning above the plat form lo make a covered dance floor,
The glendi began short!) alter vespers. After eating,
some men pushed two large tables together and placed lour
chair- on top of them, in which I he musician- took up their
positions: abagpipe player {tsambounicris), a/wa plaver
(Jyristis) and two la(gh)outo players {laighyoutie'ridhes).
Below them about a dozen men sal round the tables
drinking whisky and singing extempore mandi mid lies
(litieen syllable rhyming couplets) extolling the spirilual
virtues of Saint J o h n . 1 0 Within a short time, five of the
singers stood up and, still singing, began to dance round
the musicians table. The "dancers'" (for convenience I
shall call them A, B, C, I) and E) lined up next to one
ler in an open circle, their arms crossed in such a way
that C's right palm held E's let"! palm in front ol I) - waist,
and C's left palm held Λ - right one in front of B. I lie
dance circled slowly anti-clockwise, with the dancers
always lacing the musicians. The dance step was a sort
of solemn, ritual walk: two paces to the right and one to
the left.
In less than half an hour girls joined the dance, linking
in with the male dancers. Dressed in colourful local
costumes and wearing kolaincs (valuable necklaces ol
coins), they presented a sinking contrast to the male
dancers in their Western clothes." The girls went to the
174
position- discreetly indicated by their chapcrones, who
were older female relatives. The chapcrones -at round the
musicians' tank with their backs to the players, so a- to
lace the dance. Within an hour the platform was crowded
with over a hundred people dancing. I idle bv little the
musicians stepped up the rhythm from three lo fOUl time
and finally to two lime and the dancers (hen kept going
at lhis last tempo lor more than seven hours non-stop.
By this time the singing had stopped: all attention was
concern rated on ihe dance.
The dancers joined (he dance according to certain rules
evidently heknown to all. The position at the beginning
and the end of the chain was always occupied hv a man.
When the man at the head ol the chain - t h e kavos in
Olvmbian dialect - completed his figures he nodded to
the man at the tail to bring his girl dancers to the head.
I his dancer then danced each of his female dancers in
turn, throwing one or more crumpled banknotes ol at least
>(K) drachmas (usually one thousand or five thousand
drachma notes) to the musicians each time he changed
partner ". The notes were picked up by the participants
and put into an empty whisky bottle at the musicians teel.
The musicians played Ihe same dance tune incessantly,
performing in shifts. Around the dance floor, the
onlookers lay on iheir blankets, sometimes watching
attentively, then do/ing nit. only to wake again and watch
the dance with renewed interest. \Imosl the entire village
was there.
I he dance lasted all night. At daybreak the last shift
of musicians
all young men in their twenties
stopped
playing olvmbian tune-and switched to other Greek folk
dances such as kalamatianos, haniotikos,
kefalonitikos
and syrtds, 10 the delighi ol the young dancers. With these
dances, ihegiendi .η Vroukounda came to an end shortly
after dawn on the feast day of Saint John.
Community
and
Alienation
The festival ol Nam! lohn provides a unique
opportunity for Olymbians of the diaspora and permanent
residents of Olymbos to teel that they all belong lo one
and the same community . I hose attending the festival are
brought closer together, both physically and in spun,
through the ritual of the paniyiri, but especially through
the dance, which eonsiituics the culmination of every
celebration at Olymbos. If the success of a community
dance is lo be judged by us duration and ihe number ot
participants, it is clear that the dance at Olymbos continues
10 appeal to Ihe Olymbians, especially the younger one-,
who at the paniyiri of Ai-Yannis joined in with their
compatriots from abroad and danced with obvious
enthusiasm (Ac/7) ihroughom (he night
In private conversation, however, I lotind that several
of theg/endi participants resented the way the dance had
been conducted at Vroukounda. The) had two main
criticisms, one of a general kind and one more particular.
The first was that ever since the Olymbos dance had
become separated from Iheg/end/ il had ceased lo he a
[mystaghogia] and had been reduced to ;i vehicle
tor sell projection. The second is thai the absence of
representatives ol either of the two political tactions in
Olyinbos (ΤΟΠΙ the dance at Vroukounda was contrary to
the whok spirit of the puniyih.
I he decay of traditional mores and the division ol the
population along socio-political lines are fundamental
symptoms ol a cultural crisis associated with the di ,
heOlymbianv This crisis is in striking contrast lo the
ritual process ol reviving the Olymbian community
through ι he paniyih o\ Ai-Yannis. The processes of
unification and differential ion of the community are the
most significant manifestations ol the dialectical
relationship between contemporary culture and politics at
Olyinbos. I shall examine the diaehmnic logic of these
processes In a historical approach to the evolution of the
Olymbos dance in the twentieth century. However, before
I go on to analyse contemporary trends in the dance. I
shall try to explain what I mean b\ the dance experience
and know ledge of the dance - matters which are more or
less familiar to all Olymbians— and how these are
acquired. In other words. I shall explore the question of
the Olymbos dance tradition.
B. Ihe Olymbos Dance Tradition
Olymbian boys and girls are taught 10 dance by their
mothers at home, and then supplement what they have
leaml b> watching their elders dance at public glciidm.
How (he \illage elders dance and what the) say about the
dance are matters of great importance to the voting.
Indeed, one of the favourite topics of conversation among
young people is the authenticii> of customs that are still
observed today, especially the glendi and dance. Such
evaluations and the lines of reasoning behind them are
usually based on the established lore and generally
accepted usages pi the past, which the elderly Olymhians
call
customs"" (ethima) and the younger ones call
"tradition
{paridhom)
Since I shall be using the term tradition'" as an
analytical concept, I shall first define it. 1 2 Tradition is the
process whereby lore and everyday usages that sustain
hisiorical continuity are handed down from generation lo
generation in a particular society. Viewed as a process,
tradition represents not just a body of knowledge (lore)
and practices which determine what kinds of behaviour
are socially acceptable, but also the ways in which that
knowledge and those practices arc acquired and
manifested. These ways are not stable but are transformed
or even replaced by otheis as one historical period gives
way lo the next. However, since what Ihe elderly Olym­
hians mean when they talk about "customs (as things
actively experienced) is quite different from what the
young mean by " t r a d i t i o n " (as an ideological construct).
even though both words refer to knowledge acquired and
usages established in the past, 1 shall refer t o the attitudes
and opinions of Ihe older generation as iraditional (in
accordance with the definition of tradition given above)
and lo those ot the young as nco traditional, putting the
word "tradition in inverted commas in the latter ^ase.
Before examining traditional discourse on dance and
the relationship between this and the various tonus of
social practice in Olymbos, I shall explain how the
concepts of time and space are traditionally used b\
oiy mbians.
Concept*• of Traditional
Time
Systematic information on the social history of
Olymbos in local oral tradition eoes hack lo the lXXOs.
There are frequent references to the past in iradiiioual
discourse, though no specific dates ate given, simplv the
phrases
in ihc old davs
(pab'd) and "nowadays""
(s/me'ra). The apparent vagueness <>i such references is not.
however, an obstacle to communication. Ihc exact
meaning implied by words like/>a//a and sinters, or other
similar expressions of temporal content, is clearly defined
by the discussanis. either in the conversational context or
the general framework of social relations to which these
terms refer. I his is irue of traditional oral communication
in general Ihe traditional Olymbians know the family
hislory of all their fellow villagers almost as well as they
know their own. C onscquently. any references made to
persons or things traditionally associated with certain
socio-historical events allude by implication, and most
precisely, to these events
Besides ihe chronological allusions implicit in the
expressions the "old davs"" and "nowadays", there arc
two dates which stand oul as landmarks in ihe social
history of the Dodecanese since 1880: these are 1912 and
1947. In 1912 the Italians captured the Dodecanese from
the Ottoman lurks, and in 1947 Ihe Dodecanese were
united with the Greek slate. Olymbians speak o\' the time
prior to 1912as "under ihe Turks' , ihe interval 1912 ll>4"
as the Italian" period, and the years since ihe Union as
the " G r e e k " period.
I here is also a third chronological landmark, which is
not connected with military events but with
socio-economic developments on Karpathos and therefore
refers not to one specific year but to a period ol several
vears. It is the decade of ihe 1970s, during which a major
development drive was launched <>n Kaipathos, prompted
b\ a considerable injection ol stale and emigrant capital.
State funding was used mainly for infrastructure projects,
mainlv in the field ot transport (roads and an international
airport), while the returning emigrants put their money
in new buildings and tourist enterprises. 1 "' The marked
monetarizatton ol the (Carpathian economy had direct
repercussions on the traditional culture of Karpaihos and
especially of Olymbos. In Olymbian discourse the post1970 years are the age of modernity: Olymbians refer to
this period as ihe time when new tangled ideas and forms
of activity (fa modcrna) destroyed the old mores.
Olymbians speak o\' the period between Union with
Greece and modern times as the period ot the great ex
pal rial ion" {XCnitcmos), Between 1947 and 1970 the
175
population of Olymbos was halved. Most o f the emigrants
went tO Piraeus, Rhodes, Baltimore and New York, while
some ended up in Australia and what was then West
Germany. 1 4 For traditional Olymbians the chronological
watershed between "the old days" and "nowadays"' is the
decade of the 1960s, for this is when the liisi social and
cultural repercussions of the muss exodus began to make
themselves felt. The themes of \enitia and desertion of the
village predominate in Olymbians" everyday and ritual
conversations !<
Concepts of Traditional
Space: Parousia and
Topikismos
The distinction of space into private and public noted
in ethnographic studies ot various traditional Creek
societies holds also for Olymbos.' 6 However, the ways in
which each society, in this case the Olymbian, compre­
hends and expresses the concepts o f " p r i v a t e " and " p u b
Ik arc neither uniform nor historically immutable.
In traditional Olymbos, both private and public were
conceptualized in a community context, not in a socially
isolated, individual one. This distinction also constitutes
the specific difference between the traditional and
neo-traditional symbolism of Olymbian identity, which
subject is discussed in detail below.
The Olymhians regard the dance as their most
important public event and attribute particular significance
to its physical and symbolic space, which thev call the
parousia (literally presence, appearance). In traditional
discourse the concept of parousia is synecdochically syn­
onymous with the concept of community; the word is used
o f a place or an occasion when the community "appears"
or declares its "presence".
The concept o f parousia introduces two distinctions
into the symbolism of space: that between ritual and
everyday space, and that between mixed gender, nude or
female space. Τ hepanwsta implies, by definition, a mixed
ider, ritual and public space. Since the work place, the
home and even the coffee shop do not meet all three o f
these conditions, they are not described as places ol
parous!, ι
For the discourse o\ I he parousia to be articulated, there
must exist a relationship of otherness which binds the
Olymbian community together through its relationship
with the cultural Other, Among the traditionalists o\
Olymbos, the concept of otherness is expressed by the
concept o(xenitia, a word meaning foreign parts, expat­
riation, exile, alienation, and the concept of the cultural
Other is rendered by the adjective \enos (foreign, alien,
strange). The Olymhians use the word xenos to describe
anything that is not part of their everyday experience, and
hence anything for which there is no word in the
vocabulary o f their community.
The concept of xenitte is interlwined with the idea o\'
topikismos (literally localism), which constitutes yet
another distinct way of conceptualizing space considered
from the geo-cultural angle. Neo-lraditionalisi Olymbians
speak oi a culturally familiar space - a t once a place
176
(topos) and a way of life {tropos) - as u-hnlopios (local)
or dhiko* mas (ours), in contradistinction to any other,
which is \cnos (foreign).' Older Olymbians. nn the other
hand, use the word ve//(» to describe anything thai does
not conform to their traditional culture but always refer
to their own domain by its proper name: thev \av
an
Olymbian woman" {Ofymbitissa) rather than " a local wo­
m a n ' , and "places in ihe Olymbos area
(Qlymbitika
nicri) rather than "our part ol the world .
One lasl comment on the symbolism of space concerns
its differentiation at a cultural and political level. ( riiical
analysis of the various usages o f topikismos may help us
to understand the relationship between culture and politics
in Olymbos. Viewed from a socio-political perspective,
topikismos constitutes the ideological nucleus of a strong
COnservativism. Traditionalists and neo-lraditionalists
alike form their localislic attitudes (which they use to
validate their actions within the community) in accordance
with various strategies based on a conservative view of
Olymbos culture. 1 shall deal with this issue more fully
below.
One o f the most important symbols of topikismos in
traditional Olymbos is \\w glendi. ol which dance is an
integral and inextricable part. I shall begin with a
description of the Olymbian dance tradition by examining
the relationship between the glendi and the dance.
Dance and
Glendi
Song, music and dance are the principal components
o f a ritual known in o l y m b o s as the gloadi,1* Both the
glendi as a whole, and each of its elements are used in
traditional discourse as symbolic representations of the
Olymbian community. A n old saying about the dance and
song reflects the significance Olymbians attach lo the
glendi: " A dancer at twenty, a singer at t h r i t y " . Before
W o r l d War II a young m a n s successful participation in
the glendi established him as a mature member of the
community in the eyes o\ the older people present.
Participation in tbcglendi is gender specific. As is clear
from the saying quoted above (because ol the gender
the words used), those who instigate and co-ordinate the
traditional glendi are men aged over thirty. Olymbian men
sing mandinudhes, dance and play the traditional instru­
ments - the tsambouna (bagpipe), rjfra (a three-stringed
bowed instrument oi ι he rebec class) and la(gh)outo (a
kind of hue). In contrast, Olymbian women play no
musical instruments and do not sing in public, except on
special family occasions, such as the weddings and funerals
of close relatives and. more rarely, ai the christening of
their own children.
Although singing and playing musical instruments
male pursuits, the dance cannot take place without the
participation of women: this is a point to which the
Olymbians attach especial significance. As already
mentioned, the mixed (both sexes), ritual and public space
o f the dance constitutes for the glendistos the symbolic
"presence" (parotfsia) of their community.
For male and female Olymbians, ihc criteria of
participation in the dance arc not personal but social. In
the pre War period the general mle was thai onl)
unmarried first horn sons and daughters took part in the
dance, though if a family had other children to marry off,
the younger ones participated once the eldest son and
daughtei were married. Young mothers did not dance at
public dances, nor did small children, with the excej
of first-born daughters, who were permitted to join in the
dance from the age ol seven or eight. From then until when
the) were married, the young giils were chaperoned at the
dance by their mothers. I hus, married women did not join
in the dance themselves but observed their daughters
dancing. The male dancers were older than the
generally not less than twenty years of age. Married men
danced and sang in public without an) upper age limit,
so long as the) were experienced meraklidhes, that is men
with a proven talent lot getting [he clcndi participants in
w
a rapturous stale of mind (Jte7*f).
in the village ar the tristrato (crossroads),
under the bonenii (west wind)
ι saj i!oodb\c ι ο Olymbos
wiili the dance and with ihc giendi
The dramatic value of this m.mdin.ulivi
- i n the
original Greek
lies in its use of two words, tristrato and
bonontis, that define exactly the place and time, the
circumstances m which a contemporary farewell giendi is
usually held. I he tristrato is an open space in Olymbos
where three roads meet: it is here thai mosl ot ihegtendia
and dances lake place in the summer. Another allusion
to the summer, by implication, is contained in the word
bonenttSj the moist westeri) wind thai blows mainl) at thai
lime ol year, especially in August (the month when m
Olymbians leave the village ai the end of their holidays).
To the Olymbians the tristrato and the bonentis, the dance
and the giendi are living symbols oi theii community.
The Dance as a lJn\c•,•. in ihc Giendi
Giendi and Xenitia
Ihc unity Ol thcgfeitti* and dance is relleeted in the
attitudes of the traditional Olymbian community to
xenitia. Before World War II. Olymbians confronted
Kenitia, thai symbolic locus of their otherness, with an awe
which induced mixed feelings ot terror and respect for
anything "foreign", the unknown, rhecommunity treated
:
xenitia as a symbolic death. " When an Olymbian left tor
foreign parts, his relatives would go into mourning foi him
as if he had actually died, abstaining from an\ form of
entertainment or enjoyment.
When anybod) was about to set off on a journey, a
giendi would be held in honour of the prospective traveller.
< kfymbians of the oldet generation are very fond of these
wdl icndi;i because the are lively and high spi
affairs {ehoun plousio Ac/; >. \s the) are apt to point
out. There's no koft without t e a r s " . : i I he pain tell by
the giendi participants at their imminent severance from
a beloved person and the breaking up ol their company,
in conjunction with the presence ot ; he person about to
depart, stimulates and heightens the mcrokiiilhcs' Ac//.
Before W 01 Ed W ar II the singers consoled the traveller with
then mandinadhes, Stressing that the only antidote to the
anguish of expatriation was remembrance οϊ the
community. At ,i giendi held in 1935 an Olymbian sang
the following to a friend and mcraklis about to leave lor
Persia:
/ are well, my friend
\ on 're leaving and III lose you
But you may be assured »n friend
I shall not forget you
On such occasions the alluvions to the idea of the
community were made through the concepts ot iheglondi
and ι bed.nice, the timeless symbols of Olymbian ideninv.
In this traditional spirit a middle-aged meraklis sang in
1989. on the eve ol his departure from Olymbos for
Athens, where he now lives:
The dance is 10 ihegiendi as the pan is to the whole.
Bui what Olymbians mean b) giendi is not simply the sum
of its component parts
song, music and dance
but a
rituai process whereby these practices are interwoven. I his
is apparent both from ihc I act that traditionalist and
neo-traditionalist Olymbians believe thai the proper basis
ever) giendi is the conformit) o1 all participants to
its rules
i *'i a social entertainment to develop into a
community feast, that is into a.giendi, the revellers co ordinating the procedure (the meraklidhes) must transform
conviviality into elation tAc//i, through Junking, singii
23
music and dancing. Dance, therefore, is not an eiiu in
itself but a symbolic means ol uniting the glondi particip
anis into a community. "You cant have a dance without
a giendi", sa) older Olymbians, expressing the symbolic
relationship between Ihe part and Ihe whole, between the
dance and the glondi.
The dance is the climax ol the giendi process, lor it
is during this ritual phase that the participants activel)
experience the "presence" iparOUSta) of their community.
Since il is pan of a wider process, the Olvmbos dano
never performed b) request: it is always instigated b) the
companv (pares) ol older singers sitting round the musi­
cians' table. : 4 I his pare./ is ihe nucleus ol ihc giendi, for
which reason :t is known in Olymbian parlance as the
middle (i.e. heart) of the dance*', rhe meraklidhes
at
the heart of the dance initiate {stinoun, literally "set up")
ihe dance according to strict conventions, setting the scene
for the entry of the young men and girl dancers.
Structural!) and functionally, therefore, the dance
symbolizes the continuit) of the community through the
creative coexistence ol the old and ihe young generation.
The Phases of the Olymbos
Dance
There are three names lor the dance, depending on the
rhythm ot the accompanying tune: kuto horos or
•>!(• :!thwo> (i.C. slow ), gonatistos (literally from the knees)
IT;
and pino hom* (lasi). Kato horns is danced in three time.
gonatistos in a quicker four-beat rhythm and ράηο horos
in even Faster two time. uonatistos
is in effect the
transitional phase horn kato horos to ράηο horos, for
which reason it is danced as an interlude between these
two phases of the dance.
Ί uung Olymhians also dance other Greek folk dances.
such as kefaionitikos, kalamatianos, haniotikos, pentozalis
and syrtos. Non-circular dances, Mich as hasapikos and
/ennhekikos are not danced at Olymbos, 2 5 neither are the
dances of mainland Greece, hasaposorvikos
and
tsamikos.26 Ballroom dances such as the tango and wall/
arc never danced either.
The < )lymhians regard kmo horos, gonatistos and ράηο
horos as distinct but interdependent parts ol a single entit).
This unity is known as the d a n c e " (horos) or, more
precisely, "the Olymbos dance" (O Otymbitikos horos),
mtradistinction to any other dance, which is regarded
ireign (xe~nos) even it' the community is familiar with
In; example the folk dances of other regions o!
Greece, which are danced by the younger generation- It
should be noted, however, thai the dancers at \ roukounda
did not dance dances from elsewhere until after the
( tiyrabOS dance was over.
I hough regarded as parts ol the same whole, there are
essential differences in the structure of the A.iio horos and
ράηο horos. Kmo horos has an additional dimension of
theg/cfit// ritual, namely song, and throughout its duration
both the male dancers and the memkiidhes '"ai the heart
of the dance" sing mandinadhes to the female dancers.
These mandinadhes arc not improvised expressions ol
ικΐιχ idualism but an integral pari of a community dialogue
set in motion by the meraklidhes. Such dialogues are
always initiated in those instances where the glendi is
confined to singing only. Since only men sins.• in public,
and since dance without women is inconceivable, all-male
giendia are known as andristika (for men) or. more
imonly, kathista (seated).
Dance as the Culmination
Parousia
ol the Glendi through
the
Structurally and functionally, kato horns is the replete
manifestation o( the marriage ol song and (.lance, fot
which reason it constitutes the culmination of the ritual
process of the traditional glendi. The mandinadhes sung
in the kato phase of the dance reflect the traditional
relationship between sell and community, since the
concept ot community in pre-War Olymbos was noi
understood in metaphysical but in interpersonal terms.
Consequently, anyone who disagreed with what was being
said 01 tnacted in the dance voiced his opinions in the form
of mandinadhes, engaging in a metrical dialogue with
whoever held views to the contrary. These dialogues led
ι it nail ν ιό the pronouncement in poetic form of the
community verdict in those instances where evaluations
of the social comportment o\ certain persons and families
were disputed. For this reason ι hose taking part in the
17»
dance were particular!) careful of what they said and did
at the parous/./.
Feat o\ criticism was accompanied b> unbounded
respect lot what took place at the parousia. The
mandinadhes of the dance bound both the singers and the
individuals to whom they relerred, precise!) because they
publicized certain personal opinions on other members ol
the community. This community committment is
epitomized in the common expression " H e said thai al the
dance" . or its equivalent "He said thai al the parousia
In pie Wat Olymbos die assemblv ol the comimn
al the dance consthuied the supreme people's court. I el
us iook at an example. In the early 1940s a school teacher
and a kaoakaris (large land-owner) wanted to marry the
same girl, herself a kanakaria (a first boi η daughter with
property). Although the girl preferred the landless but
virile and spirited (meraklls) teacher, her parents were
pressuring her to accept the kanakarTS because he was ol
their social rank. At a glendi in the coffee shop (i.e. an
all-male affair) the teacher challenged his rival, singing:
Come, let s go together to the
so everyone sees \ou .md me
Leave your /arms
at Avlona to lie
mekeme
The word tne&ejnes is the Turkish equivalent of
parousia and the expression " t h e fields al Avlona
standardized phrase alluding synecdochtcall) to the
kanakaris, since a diacritic ol the class of kanakaridhes
land kanakariis) was ownership of the largest and most
fertile fields on the plain al \\lona.
Interpersonal
Evaluations
and
Dance
At a literal level the symbolism of the traditional dance
concerns relations between persons and ai a metaphorical
one relations between an archetypal indiv idual
the ideal
Olymbian man and woman
and the community he or
she represents.- In the dance the presence ol all the
dancers, and especially of the young girls, was evaluated
οι assessed. In the context of these evaluations, the
participants in the glindi actively experienced their
community not as a homogeneous or competitive construct
but as an interpersonal mode of coexistence with tl
Fellow villages, with whom they shared a day-to-daj
socio-culiural reality.
The tais* m d'etre of the dance was to assess the positive
qualities of the female participants as prospective brides
in the Olymbos marriage market. 2 8 However, the iniei
personal structure of the community permitted the
expression not only ol commendation but also ol censure,
for in the person of a toil dancer her entire family was
judged, as well as ils relationships ol alliance or ant­
agonism with other families in the community. Thus ι lie
exchange of mandinadhes praising or reproving the abil
hies and attributes of specific dancers was not o\ HI
individual personal nature. The personal element at once
formed and was formed b) the interpersonal functional
framework of the community, through the parousia. this
explains why the Olymbians were so solicitous about
sending theii children to the dance: it was there that the
symbolic value (prestige
standing and esteem) ol a
person and Ins family in the community was absolutely
and irrevocably determined
I. ( nmim-iulalions
I \ei> in.iledancei had a moral obligation ΙΟ sine abOUl
his female dancers, publicizing the personal and familial
virtues oi each. Systematic indifference to a particular girl
on the pail of the male dancers constituted one of the most
severe forms of criticism of her. One of the gravest insults
levelled at an unmarried woman was to call her "unsung"
(atra(gh)oudisti), which means she has not been sung about
at the dance. ( consequently the common expression Go
away, unsung girl'" implied that the woman thus addressed
was, in the eves ol the community, a person unvvorihv of
comment.
Because a person s prestige was directly linked with the
standing and esteem of his family, mothers indicated to
their daughters suitable persons to dance next to. Good
positions were those next to renowned meraklidhes or to
young men regarded as potential bridegrooms
1 he meraklidhes sang to the girl dancers, praising their
appearance: their facial features, careful allirc and
comportment in the dance. Their remarks were couched
in phrases drawn from a common aesthetic conception
concerning the ideal features o\ the female face. 1 01
example, a dancer was qualified as round-faced", "archfine-featured". At a dance held during the
Italian Occupation, one merakla extolled the beamy ol
a round-faced dancer in the following manner:
/ tove <u;in
tut face is like one
and yout checks!
the) 're Itki- the apples of
Aivali.
Ii was most unusual to compare the physical beauty
rl dancers al the gletnli and when this occurred the
aesthetic evaluation ol the persons was in effeci a
metaphoi foi a moral and social evaluation o\ then
families.
1 el us eonsidei an example. At a dance held during
the Italian < tecupation, two men argued in mandinadhes
comparing the physical beauty οϊ their dancers, who
happened to be theii daughters. In this poetic duel the two
is compared the colour of the girls hair, eyes and
iplexion
on the one hand the "black
(dark)
colouring ol the brunette and on the other the " w h i l e "
(light) colouring of the blonde. The father of ι he
lair haired dancei sang:
Γ6ί 'white" girls arc pretty
the 'whhe' girls are loved
so say the J;trk ' ones
to comfort
themselves
The lather of the dark-haired dancer immediately retorted:
Ihc mountain snou is white
hut the swine irc.it/ on it
cloves .in- black
but agas then them
I he second mandinadha reveals the metaphoi
character ol the aesthetic assessment of the girl dancers
bv their dancers/fathers. The contrasting of the words
swine and agas' alludes to the social distinction
between the uncouth laeklanders and the cultured landowners [kanakaridhes). C onsequenth. the father of the
brunette disparages the family of the blonde dancei
ially infaioi to his own.
Such associations between the physical beamy of a
dancei and hei socio-economic status were commonplace,
provided ol course ι he girl had both physical and economic
endowments. Being community events, the dances were
open in all, irrespective oi social or economic criteria.
I andless male dancers frequently sang ίο proper lied girls
ik.iti.ik.tries), approbating their beauty and wealth, even
though they were well aware they could never marry them.
\l a dance held during the Italian Occupation a landless
dancer sane to a kanakaria:
\l\
are
hut
.in
love s eves
not so dark
her archc*.! brows
a hitler, hurning desire
)••!! have houses three-storeys
a courtyard laid with pebbles
whoevet sees it
his mind remains there
high
The contrast between the economic poverty and the
symbolic wealth (prestige) represented by a man o\ lowci
rank bin an acknowledged merakJis was often a subjeel
for discussion al the dance. 3 0 In pre Wa ι Olymbos
laeklanders were usually poor, but symbolic wealth was
the prerogative ot anyone, regardless oi aye. gender oi
economic stains. I or the Olymbians I hose spiritual
attributes ol a person which had community value were
the content of symbolic wealth. One such trail was
tner.ikliki. that is a person's ability to lead a companv ol
singcis and dancers to enthusiasm (Ac//), into thai
high-spirited state of mind essential ιο experiencing the
parousia ot ι he community
I el us consider an example. Al a dance held in ι he
village square during the Italian Occupation, an Olymbian
lad, \ikos. danced with two cirls who were schoolmates
from the village of Othos in the south of Karpathos.
Nikos" father, Kosmas, and his paternal grandfather,
Nikolis, were ai 'the heart of the dance "'. Al one point
Kosmas sang a mandinadha to his son:
v.'A.'s. / grant you leave
to sing
to please
\iUii two sehoolt'riends
And his grandfather Nikolis immediately continued:
I7!>
Sing to ι hem Kikoli*.
let's see it you are like mc
that you "ill not dishonour me
wAcf> you go take pan in the dance
To which Kosmas rejoined:
F;tiher. you did not give us
vineyards or estates
yon just endowed us well
with tnerakiiki
And Finally, old Nikolis:
Tonight s dam
.ill anomalies
since the
un-moustached
are mixed up with the moustached
Did tht\\ give me anything?
Hint I anything to give you?
I owed two grossia when I wed
and I could not repay them
Apart from tlie distinction between economic and
symbolic wealth, the foregoing dialogue reflects the ace
hierarchy of family as well as community relations in
pic War Olymbos. While kosmas allows his young son
Nik OS to sing al the dance, in front oi older glendistcs,
his talher (and Nikos grandfather), old Nikolis, an
acknowledged meraklis, justifies this breach of etiquette
in terms acceptable \o the community: he wants to see
whether his grandson and namesake will prove himself
worthy o\ him as a meraklis.
I he dialogue reveals that the merakliki is a talent which
sons inherit from then agnaies. litis implies that goods
with symbolic value may be inherited by two unites: the
biological and the cultural. I raditionally. it was believed
thai a person's Spiritual faculties were inherited from
forebears renowned in ihccommunitj Γοι possessing such
characteristics. Complementary to. and not in competition
with, the idea of biological inheritance is the transmission
of material property (dowry) and social titles from one
generation to the next in accordance with a custom.π >
2
inheritance system,* m which the first-born son and
first-born daughter inherit the property ot the lather and
of lhe mother respectively. I here is a naming obligation
for the transfer of properly bj the endower to the
endowed: the bo> takes the name of his father's lather
and ι he giil that of her mother's mother.
I; is, however, worth noting thai in the case of the
foregoing dialogue, old Nikolis is landless not because he
was horn late and thus had no claims to proper!\ hut
because, although a first-born son, he had been disinher­
ited by his father foi disobeying him and marrying a
landless woman. So, on (he one hand old Nikolis jus
to his descendants the lack ol a legacy of land property
(due to his disinheritance) and, on the other, he uses the
onomastic dimension ol the customary inheritance system
to rati. • his biological bequest of the tnerakiiki to his
namesake grandson.
77?e Dance as an Object ol Evaluation
Glendi
in the Post- Η ar
In pre-War Olymbos the old men were custodians of
moral and ritual order in the glendi and the dance. Not
180
onl\ did young men refrain from singing in from of their
elders, thev were generally discouraged from participating
actively in glendia. I lowcvei, those who were particularly
talented or well prepared were invited 10 sing b\ Lhe
revellers (g/endYsfes) themselves, as happened in Nikos
case since Unification with Greece, o\ so the traditional
meraklidhcs maintain, the institutions ol theglendi and
the dance have been less rigidly observed and the young
people's former fear of and respect foi ι heir elders has
been lost forever. In 1950 an old meraklis sans.' from the
"heart of the dance" :
In addition to then physical beaut) and economic
wealth, girls were commended lor iheii decorum al the
dance. Λ good dancer, in traditional eves, was one who
danced pano tis (lit. on herself) 01 MO nychi (lit. on (he
toe-nail), thai is in a disciplined manner, without running
and without dragging or being dragged by othei dancers.
Her movement was such that the male dancer in the k
was able to concentrate on the execution o) his figures,
ensuring him controlled contact with the rest of the dance.
In turn the good male dance) performed his intricate steps
llsalomia) at the head of the chain without imposing liis
weight on lhe girl dancer next to him. In lhe closing ν ears
ol ihc Italian occupation, a meraklis sang al a glendi:
is Spring adorns
this tickle earth
so an experienced (female) dan
be/V/s the dunce
\ :er Unification writ Greece, the phenomenon ot
mcrakiidhes praising not onlj the girl dancers bui the
nal dance appeared. I he purpose ol such commenda­
tions was to remind theglcndistOS ol the pre War unity
ol ι heir society. \s a symbol of the Olymbian community,
the dance alleviated lhe anxiety o\ xenilia (lhe exile of
expatriation), which was associated with alienation from
shared values. \i a pre-Wai glendi on one Shrove
Monday, a meraklis sang from the h e m of the d a n c e " :
How lovely is the dance,
it only it were every day,
if only Shrove Monday
came every neck
II. (ensures
Λ giil s, 01 more correctl> her family s, interest in a
man as a prospective bridegroom was an open secrei in
the community. I he same held lor the preferences ol the
unmarried youths and their families with regard to
potential brides, lhe Olymbians spoke of those young
boys and girls whose relationships were publicly known
as sweethearts ι Krmastoj). armastoi met daily and slaved
together until late in the evening in lhe gUTs home, always
in the company ol her parents. I bus young men and
women got to know each other well before marriage. The
prospective bridegroonvs acquaintance with his sweetheari & family was particularly important given tfiat in
Olymbos matrilocal residence is the norm. In these circum­
stances of family -controlled contact between sweethearts
there was no shir on a girl's reputation should she turn
her attentions towards another \rmastos, il het relation
ship with the first failed to flourish,
ι raditionally, girls always danced next to thcit sweel
hearts. Any unjustified breach of this norm provoked
stringent criticism by the elderly singers at the heart of
the dance'". However, a girl's decision not to dance next
to hei irmastOS was very rarely her own, since her actions
reflected the opinions of her family, and primarily o t h e r
moth • Such instances frequently ended in family frays,
since the antagonists exchanged insulting mandinadht
the dance.
Let us look at a tew examples. On a Shrove Monday
during the Italian Occupation the sweetheart of one young
man. V danced at the side of another male dancer. Seeing
this affront, a severe meraklis, B, sang to \
\ storm has broiten on the
there will be damage
fot i sec the bee
inn she ignores the thyme
I he doubly
insulted dancei
mountains
Λ replied
immediately,
ing his song at both his sweetheart and bis critic:
You're neithei sotu to discard you
nor sweel for me to eat
/ca\e other folks' vineyards a/one
and fence your own
1 he first two lines of his mandinadha reflect Vs
assessment of his sweetheart's character. Likening the girl
to an edible fruit, which one discards if it is sOUl or eats
it u is sweet, he declares his total indifference to her
lie reels neither repulsion nor passion.
The second two lines are directed at B. whom Λ advises
>p interfering in the affairs ol others and to attend
to his own family problems. When A sang this part all
those present understood its deeper meaning: B's sister had
shocked the community by flirting, lightly but openly, with
an Italian soldier. \ was alluding indirectly to this act and
us social consequences tor B\ family, stressing that a
peison whose moral integrity is open to question has not
the right to judge publicly the actions of his fellow
.'IS.
At anothet pie War feast a girl returned to her place
In tin dance alongside her armastos after a long interval,
during which she had danced at the side of another man.
Hei armastos reacted immediately, singing:
You came and turned my heart to stone
And broke h into pieces
mid the mandinadhes I shall sing
will be for link eves onh
The expression 'Tor Turk eyes only
(i.e. worthless)
has negative implications: what is μοού
for the l u r k s is
not meet fot the Greeks, in this case the Olympians. The
juxtaposing of the community symbol, mandinadhes, and
ι he expression ol otherness, tor Turk cvesonlv ". reflects
at a societal level the personal conflict between the
sweethearts. I or the singer, his former sweetheart is no
longer a familial person but a stranger: thus the expression
of Otherness
"for Turk eyes only"'
explains, and is
explained by, the guTs estranging behaviour. In contrast,
the singer presents himseil as an ideal representative ol
the Olymbian community - t h e improper behaviour of
someone eKe, his former companion nuns his heart 10
stone" and 'breaks ii into pieces". I hough in the in si
two lines the singer expresses his personal feelings .UK\
opinion of the girl, in the second two he makes a more
general declaration, that there is no place at theparousia
fot anything alien to Olymbos cull
The parousia is respected and honoured by all tradi
lional Olymbians. In pre-Wai Olymbos ii was inconceiv
able that anyone, man or woman, act individually in the
dance. Any such behaviour prompted the immediate and
implacable reaction of the older glendistes, who assumed
ad hoe responsibility as judges and as guardians ol
tradition. The offender was punished in exemplary fashion
being exposed to public ignominy at the parousia. Public
punishment of culprits was both corporal (beating) and
ntual: the glendistes fired remonstrat ive mandinadhes at
the tran&grcssoi of community order, stigmatizing his
name and thai of his family
One category ol offenders ol community mores was
treated leniently by traditional Olymbians. I hese were the
tsamouridhes, which in Olymbian dialect means "those
who misbehave when intoxicated"'. Oral tradition cites
cases ol glendistes who. under the influence Of too much
alcohol, insulted girl danceis by touching (hem in an
unseemly manner or kissing them in the dance. To avoid
anv physical contact between the male and female danceis
the hold was such thai the male dancer did not clasp a
n l s hand but her handkerchief, winch she held fot this
very reason. In the conservative society of olymbos even
the slightest brush of the male dancer s bodj against that
of a girl could be construed as an affront to her honour
and thai ol her family.
I ei us consider an example. At a prc-Wat glendi one
dancer, V kissed a girl of highei social rank. He did so
in order to dishonour the girl in public and so force her
parents to let him marry her. since according to custom
no-one else would take to wife a girl who " h a d been
kissed'". Immediately after the kiss, \ sang:
/ pinched, I kissed
I snatched the tender shoot (to pachari)
and you became like a parched twig
such as donkeys eat
I he term pachari usually means lard or fat, but here
a has particularly positive connotations being used in the
sense of the cream on the milk, implying the "cream"' ol
(Ml
the community. By pinching and kissing the young
kanakaria m public, ihe singer maintains thai he has
: hei social value - taken away tier " c r e a m " ,
that is Iter moral integrity. Her transformation into a
"parched twig ' alludes metaphorical!) to her social fall:
she is now so ordinary thai even the donkeys (that is the
iacklanders) can eat Iter (that is marry her).
I he insult committed by A was major and he was given
a severe thrashing b> the other gtendistes. I le had not only
ot tended the girl dancer and her Fanrtil) but also the
community, since aftei his immoral act he had boasted
of it ai thep&rousia. \ s self-centred behaviour roused
public feeling and the giendistes punished him tor his
immorality as well as his sliamelessncss. However, because
\ was a habitual tsamoiiris, the mcraklidhes refrained
from branding him - as they would certain!) have d^uc
in an) other case
with reproving mandinadhes.
One general observation concerning the breaches of
community customs in pre-Wai < Hymbos. Frequently the
offenders are persons ol lower .social rank, while llie
fiduciaries of tradition arc either kanakarkthes or persons
who. on account of their employ, are socio economical!)
dependent on them field guards, teachers, artisans and
priests. Precisely because of their marginality. Ihe
phenomena ot undisciplined behaviour al the pari
reflect, overtly or covertly, the underprivileged peoples
discontent with ihe hegemony of the kanakaridhes. This
issue, which concerns the relationship between traditional
culture and politics in Olymbos, will be discussed in detail
below.
From the Censure ot Persons /o (he C ensure of
Customs
ice Unification Ihe symbolism of ihe glendi has
undergone radical changes The traditional merakhdhes
complain thai the modem Olymbians no longer commend
their fellow villagers bul flatter them, and instead of
focusing their mandinadhes On the young girl dancers
publicize the social progress ot those young male emigrants
who have obtained a university degree Ol established a
profitable business. Λι a dance held in Rhodes in the
1970s, Olymbians living there sane congratulations to a
young Olymbian man who had recent Iv qualified as a
medical doctor. Annoyed bv this breach of custom, a
traditional merakb's remonstrated in son••
u bat they *aid is changing
the customs and the fashion
the} .ίο longer praise ihe girls,
who are i'ur lovely roses
Oft have l censed (praised) other one'•.
whoever they might be
tun I don Ί do M) any mot
not even tot nn close friends
I lis mandinadhes express the dramatic modification of
the glendi in recent decades, thai is the 1970s and 1980s,
\s other mcraklidhes pointed out at ihe festival of
Ai-Vannis in 19X4. contemporary Olymbian dance has
I8L'
changed from being a symbolic rile to a ritual ol
exhibitionism. I he male and female dancers do not attend
(he dance ΙΟ express through experience (and to experience
through expression) their cultural unity, as was the ease
in the old days. I hey no longer discover the transformative
force ot traditional discourse and the symbolic way of lite.
Young men dance in order to be seen dancing, to convince
those present thai the> arc good Olymbians and therefore,
if unmarried, desirable bridegrooms I he same is true for
ι κ. \v the traditional mcraklidhes point out, modern
Olymbians are not interested in the seated (kathisio)
glindi, nor in the kato horo\s. Hie modernglendi is almost
totally confined to the phase of the ράηο horos and the
tional relationship between the g/endi as a whole, of
which dance is a pan, has more 01 less vanished. More­
over, the disengagement of the dance from ι he glindi has
facilitated the rise in popularitv ol evening dances, an
institution cultivated bj Olymbian emigrants, both in
{ireecc and abroad, emulating ι lie bourgeois halms of ι lien
reign" fellow citizens.
The Dance in Post Wat
Olymbos
In its modern form, ihe dance
with its musk
constitutes an autonomous whole, completely diseng
from song. The outcome ol this separation ο I the iradi
tional glendi into two parts
dance and song
has been
that each of the two elements has evolved differently and.
ol course, different meanings have been attached to litem.
\\ hereas the dance and music have been commercialized,
song (that is the extempore mandinadhes exchanged at the
kathisto glendi or in the kato horos) has been margin­
alized. I litis, tot the tew remaining traditional merakhdhes
song nowadays constitutes the only vital symbol of Ihe old
Olymbian unity, the
part which alludes toth«
whole, the pre-Warglendi. Those who were once ardent
defendants o\ the unity ol song, music and dance, disniss
lent Olymbian dance and music as tr.utv alien'
to Olymbos, the Olymbos of ihe traditional gtendi.
The giindi and Ihe dance are public cultural events and
.is such have been used as arenas of competition by
different social groups with opposing economic and
political interests. These anatagonistic relations have
determined the various strategic interpretations and
manipulaiio:
tradition" and of the "traditional"
dance HI particular. One such relationship concerns the
clash between traditionalists and nco-traditionalists over
the issue o\ the degeneration of olymbian mores and, in
particular, that of the commercialization of the dance.
HI. Ihe (nmnu'rciali/aliiin of the Dunce
The following four Statements, made in I9N9, are
tvpica! reflections o\ how contemporar) Olymbians view
ihe evolution of their customs.
1. "Nowadays the instrument-players have neither
homeland nor religion. I hey only worship monc
2. " T o d a j s voung men and women ate not intet
learning our customs. I tic men don'l sing any more
and the girls no longer wcui the costume. That s wh)
CHymbos has become foreignized {xenepsen)."
ι ι he money they've brought from abroad the
emigrants have ruined the glondi, the dance and all
oui customs, rhey're the ones who've destroyed
< Hyiiih'is
J
I r >; η μ u> revive 'tradition' (paradhosi) is like trying
lo revive a corpse, ι he quicker we realize that, the
sooner we'll shed our poverty and misery.
Though expressing conflicting opinions, the foregoing
statements reflect the common awareness that modern
Olymbos is in the throes of a social and cultural crisis.
The Olymbians link this crisis with the abandoning
traditional customs on the one hand and with the
commercialization ol the g/endt on the other. Some blame
the emigrants for tins crisis, others the young and siill
others the supporters ol customs"" and '"tradition".
ι he commercialization ol ihtgtendi, and in particular
ol the dance and music, is ol special concern to modern
ibians, being a standard subject for discussion both
at formal events (the dance or the giendt) and in casual
rsations (in the coffee shop, at work, at home).
Because ail opinions voiced refer, direct!) or indirectly.
io the question of customs, i shall examine the process
.ι commercialization of the dance and musk, by exploring
the different strategies employed by groups with rival
economic and social interests in order to assert themselves
politically through the giendi.
I he commercialization ol the Olymbos dance is a
complex social and cultural phenomenon mainlv observed
since die 1960s. I shall present I he circumstances in which
this transformation lias taken place in three stages. First,
I shall examine diachronically the issue of the payment
ol the instrument-players. Second, I shall explain how
dance markets have come into being on Karpathos. And
third, 1 shall analyse the evolution of I lie significance of
the dance as a cultural symbol through the current, and
frequently contradictory, references ol Olymbians to their
culture. In the development ol the last theme, I shall
present the i> pieal significations and interpretations of the
ideas of the "old" and the " n e w
. a s these are expressed
in traditionalist, neo traditionalist and modernist pOsl-Wai
discourse
The Musicians' Remuneration in Traditional
Olymbos:
i mm ihe Kanakaridhes* Barley to the Emigrants' Money
According to the testimonies of elderly Olymbians.
musicians like the priests, teachers and physicians, were
paid fot then services to the community. The musicians
received an annual payment, made at harvest time. 1 3
Before World War II each family-producer put aside four
Dkas of barley, foi the musicians, a quantity equivalent to
a reaper's daily wage. When all the contributions had been
gathered in the musicians divided the barley into equal
lions between themselves, according to their numbei
The musicians remuneration was rather small in
comparison with thai ol other, artisans, such as ihc
blacksmith fot example, who received eighteen okas of
barley from every producer - this was the highest fee, I his
considerable difference was due in ι he fact lhai in pie W ai
Olymbos the playing ol musical instruments was not
regarded as a means of earning a living but as a service
to the giendistcs and. therefore, the community itselt. \s
significant contributors to the creation ol theg/end/, good
musicians (like the food singers and dancers) were
honorifically dubbed
meraklidhes.
\nyone who distinguished himself as a meraklismusician acquired considerable symbolic value (prestige)
in the community, The Olymbians exploited this possibility
in various ways, depending on the social group lo which
they belonged Certain!) all men, irrespective ol sot
rank, played some instrument 01 other: large landowners,
shepherds and craftsmen alike were all musicians.
Dunne the 1 urkish occupation, the social hierarch
O l y m b o s was based on land o w n e r s h i p .
14
There were
three socio-economic strata: large landowners (kana­
ka ridhes), small landowners (mesa/or) and lack landers
[troOtSOi). Shepherds and artisans were cither small land­
owners or lacklanders and were regarded by the kana­
karidhes as social inferiors. Thus, wheicas the kana­
karidhes ρ
π instrument in order, as it were, to
legitimize symbolical!) their social superiority, musicians
from the Othei ranks plaved for two reasons: liisi io en­
hance their reputation and standing in the community,
and second to profit from the albeit small hut neverthe­
less significant, in those days, paymenl in barley
In addition to the annual remuneration in bailey.
musicians received other payments on special occasions.
\l weddings each player was given a large round loaf of
bread, known as the gwa. \i one nuptial glondi of
kanakaridh.es in the 1920s, the/yra-playci was a shepherd,
thai isofinferioi social rank to the hosts. \i some point
in the proceedings, the /yra-playei whispered a mandi­
nadha to his daughter in-law, criticizing the hosts for
systematically ignoring him and, furthermore, for failing
to give him ihegyra to which he was entitled. < >r, theadv ice
of Ins dau
ι law, the shepherd did noi sing the
mandinadha out loud, lest he be misconstrued by lhose
present as begging for food. The mandinadha was:
For you I've feasted
/.•.' you I've played the /•.
Bui you, you have neglected me
I even /os/ the gyra
Apart from the obvious practical value oi ihegyra as
a comestible, the shepherd used it metaphorical!) to
stigmatize nol only default on a customary obligation but
also a wider social injustice. More precisely, the shepherd
wished
to protest against
the high-handedness of the
kanakaridhes in general, who reproduced the everyday
relationships ol social inequality even at [he giendi.
I he shepherd s reaction to the kanakaridhes was not
an isolated instance, bin rather a typical symptom ol a
more general opposition which was tirsl expressed by
IK'-i
returning emigrants in the 1920s. The con From
between the kanakaridhes and the emigrants was nevci
15
violent.
The Inner expressed their aversion to the
hegemonj of the former bv using the symbolic dimension
of traditional mores to consolidate their social power
in otbei words, they adopted the old strategy 01 the
kanakaridhes.
I luis the political rivalry between kanakaridhes and
emigrants was expressed through traditional processes in
different ritual contexts, and especial!) the glendi and the
dance. This rivalry assumed the form of a confrontation
between conservatives and innovators, supported by the
kanakaridhes
and the emigrants respectively. I
innovative element which had been promoted bj the
emigrants since the beginning of the twentieth century was
the greater economic and symbolic value ol monej over
land. Eventually, in the post-Wat period, as a result of
the emie,rant>>' effective manipulation ol customs
conduction with the latent opposition of the non-pri\ ι
ίο the kanakaridhes, the community was obliged to accept
the affluent lacklanders as social equals in the kana­
karidhes, who though maintaining then traditional
prestige, ceased to dominate the social ami cultural life
ol Olymbos.
I In.• ()lymbos of ι he A;.//).iAarid/)cs was a closed peasant
society with an exchange cconomj based on the circulation
of local agricultural produce and slock-reaiing products
within lhe village. A consequence of these ecoru
relationships was that money had no purchasing but only
symbolic value (as pan of the kolaina). The Olymbian
market was gradual!) transformed into a mixed (producing
and monetary) one as the emigrants introduced and
established monetary wealth as a socio-economic value
superioi ι»' land ownership.
Dunce and
Money
The lust Olymbian emigrants went to the United States
.>• America at the beginning of the century, ["hose of them
who were good musicians made a lot of nuiiin playing
at the glandia of other (Carpathian immigrants. According
to the testimony ol one elderly Olymbian. his lather lone
of the first emigran;
terica) earned as much as a
daily wage by playing (samboona tot a tew hours ai the
glendia of expairiale southern (Carpathians (katohorires). 3 6
The titst affluent emigrants returned to Olymbos in the
early ll)2<)s. Inlent on bridging the social gap between
themselves and the kanakaridhes, they spent large sums
on social projects: they offered money to the church and
frequently organized public glendia and dances. At these
lattei events the emigrants paid the musicians handsomely
to sing laudatory mandiiu'uihcs. \l six weddings held in
Olymbos in 1928, for instance, the musicians earned 5(H)
drachmas each: in those days the dailv wage of an
unskilled labourer was 5 drachmas, and ol a skilled one
In pre-War Olymbos, on Shrove Monday, musicians
and other meraklidhes used to sing commendations and
IK4
good wishes ι ο the newly-married couples. Phis custom,
known as fotimisma, was the only occasion on which ihe
musicians received money, provided Ol course this was
I he emigrants' reactkmisi movement to the kana
karidhes was curtailed in the 1930s and 40s Alter the
domination ol Fascism in lialy restrictions were imposed
on the issue of emigration permits and the Olymbians w<
ι impelled to lill the soil in ordei to sut χ ive. I his turn ol
events was to the economic and ideological advantage ol
the kanakaridhes, many of whom amassed considerable
wealth during World Wat II, from sellingtheir barley on
the black market, particular!) to affluent katohorites
(southerners).'" The Fascist period of the Italian
occupation and the Wai years until I nification enabled
the kanakaridhes to regain theii hegemony in Olymbian
society, since land proved to be of greater value than
money, whose purchasing power was diminished b\
inflation.
The Glendi Market on Karpathos
I. The Southern
(katohoritiki)
Market
The cultural repercussions of mass emigration in the
post-War period began to be Feb in the mid 1960s and were
crystallized in new social structures and strategies in the
1970s. One of the most important innovations rcsull
from emigration was the creation by retaining katohorites
a local market lor ihe "traditional KarpathJanglendi.
\s in earlier limes, in this period too, the reincorporation
ol each Karpathian emigrant in the community Of his
home village was effected through song and dance. In
response to the development ol a Karpathian glendi
market, ihe Olymbian musicians began to sell then
traditional art in a most profitable manner.
The musicians who play at katohoritika glendia are
paid generously. I was told by one meraklis from Spoa
that in the late 1980s the musicians' Fee Γοι playing at a
wedding dance ranged from 600,000 drachmas minimum
to 1,000,000drachmas on average. At one such occasion.
ani/ed b) a Spoan emigrant in 1987, at an ove all cost
ol some 7,000,000 drachmas, five musicians earned
2,700,000drachmas in one evening. In other words, each
musician gamed more money thai nigh) than a civil servant
earns in >ix months.
I he traditional custom of parit) in shai ing the proceeds
was short-lived. In no time an unscrupulous competil
iveness developed between accomplished and amateur
players, that resulted in the rise ol opportunism, Ihe
commercialization of Karpathian music was accompanied
by a new way of remunerating the players. During the
1980s the established Karpathian musicians agreed befoi
hand with the organizers o! ihe glendi on then partici­
pation fee, and in addition to this shared the money
collected al the dance equally with their less known
colleagues. No such commercial agreements between
musicians and ihe organizers of a dance have vet been
contracted in Olymbos, Ihe Olymbian musicians
implement a bilateral strategy: when they play outside
Olymbos the) agree on iheii fee beforehand (as do the
katohorites), bui when the) play in Olymbos they
conscientious!) avoid doing so, lest they be accused of
capitalizing on tradition - being "traders in customs"
teir fellow villagers.
//. The Olymbos
Market
Mthough Olymbian musicians piav all over Karpaihos,
"foreign" (that is non-Olymhian) musicians only rarely
come to play in Olymbos, Hiis is mainly due to the fact
thai southern (kmo) Karpathos is more economical!)
developed than Olymbos. As a consequence of this
one-sided economic development, olymbian builders,
electricians and other craftsmen work in virtually ever)
> η Karpathos, while no katohoritis is employed in
Olymbos.
lhis asymmetry has deep historical roots. During the
1840s the economic base of kuto Karpathos shitted from
ulture to trade, whereas Olymbos. in contrast, clung
to its traditional peasant economy and culture until the
end ot the 1950s. 40
I \v. kanakaridhes played a decisive role in maintaining
ι he peasant mode of production since, through their
hegemonic strategies, the) legitimized the reproduction of
the existing system of economic and social inequality. The
kanakaridhes cultivated an intense localism, which was
based on the peculiar nature of Olymbian agricultural
tradition lo which they gave ;i mythical dimension. This
hegemonic localism was a means of including or excluding
ι. i.l their customs) in relation 10 the dominant
ideotog) ol the traditional Olymbian community, V .1
consequence of this localistic strategy of the kanakaridhes,
combined with the factor ο Γ geographical isolation,
Olymbos maintained its rural character and remained a
culturally closed society, despite the frequent contacts of
Olymbians with the commercial and industrial world
outside Karpathos. In any case, though in the pre-Wai
period localism cultivated xenophobia, aftet the \\ai ι;
functioned as a pretext for uniting Olymbians everywhere
into a single neo-iraditional communit)
I he dance market in < Hymbos is seasonal and local in
ICtcr. I -very \ear in August Olymbos is swamped b)
Olymbian emigrants from all over the world, who return
lo the village with their children in order to introduce them
to their compatriots, to show them the place and its
•us and. finally, to give them the opportunity ol
dancing together with their fellow villagers. I he dances
held m August are therefore rituals ot initiation for the
young and rituals of unification lor the Olymbians of the
diaspora. Through these dances Olymbians create and
maintainaneo-tiathiion.il community. A specific localist
feature ol the summer communit) is its marked endogamic
character, in August most of the wedding arrangements
are made between Olymbians, a large proportion 01 which
end in marriage, celebrated within the month. 4 2
I ike the returning emigrants in the ll>2(K. those of
las well as other ucll-oll ()lymbians) spend a great
deal of money on dances, aiming at the same symbolic
advantages as their forebears More precisely, today's
affluent Olymbians seek through the dance lo publicize
their economic status and express their preferences •,>ι
certain girls as prospective brides, I hese new strategies arc
disguised by an ideolo;.
alism intent 0Π the revival
of "tradition"'. The male dancers use the traditional
symbols of Olymbian culture in neo-lraditional ways in
order to "re-create" the "old communit ν as well as 10
promote themselves, lhis practice has led 10 the
development of a market ol Olymbian "tradition .
primarily in the form of the August dances.
Dance and Music: New Practices, Ve» Interpretations
The disengagement of the dance and music from the
glendi, and their consequent commercialization, are svmptoms ol the dramatic cultural change modern Olymbos
is undergoing. In essence lhis change is the transition from
a traditional way ot hie 10 a syncretism of traditional,
neo-lraditional and modernizing tendencies. The advocates
of modernization reject outright all that is " o l d " , whether
traditional or neo-traditional, and seek the radical restruc
luring o\ Olymbos after the model o\ modern Oreek small
towns. Thus lor them the question of commercialization
o\ the "old dance and music does not exist. This is ;i
problem that exists tor the traditionalists and the neo-tradi
tionalists, who differ substantially in their approaches to
symbolism m general and to the symbolism of iheghfndi
and o( the dance in particular
Traditional symbolism is based on the dialectical
relationship between a whole and its parts According 10
this view, the symbolism ol ihe glendi both gives meaning
to and is given meaning by the symbolism of its parts
Ihe song, the music and the dance. Moreover, in traditional
symbolism the dynamic ot ihegtendi as a whole transcends
the sunt ol the dynamics of its components, lhis is
achieved through the creative juxtaposition of the partial
activities ol the glendi. Thus, when someone sings a
mandinadha at the dance his voice becomes the voice ol
3
the community.* In other words, the song and the dance
are not an end in themselves; ihey aie symbolic processes
which lead ihe glendistes to the experience id their
community On the contrary, neo-traditional symbolism
> not concerned with relations o\ wholeness but with
relations of division. The outcome o1 this approach is the
reduction of the glendi from a whole to its parts: the sealed
glCndi and ihe ράηο horos.
The splitting up of the giiadi reflects the transition
from one mode ol symbolism 10 another, In ordei ι
distinguish between the opposing tendencies of traditional
and neo-traditional symbolism I shall refer to them as
W h o l e " and " p a n " respectively. Hiis distinction does
not mean thai neo-traditional symbolism does not have
a holistic character but thai the part does not lead
iranscendenially lo the whole.
The traditional concept o\ entity is wider than the
neo-traditional one of totality. This is in effect ihe main
difference between traditional and nco traditional
l>
symbolism. While ihe former creates (and is recreated
through) relations of coexistence in an entity in which the
parts maintain their existential independence, the second
generates (and is regenerated through) competitive rela­
tions ot division into parts which, though forming a
totality, do not permit transcendence to a wider whole.
To be specific, the traditional Olymbian community is
based on relations of coexistence between its members,
while, on the contrary, the modern Olymbian world does
not constitute a community in this sense, but a sum of
groups with conflicting interests, each one of which seeks
to impose its own view OO the question of "tradition"".
However, their efforts are hampered by the lack of one
element, namely the transcendental dimension of the
process of the glendi, which is the holistic mode of
symbolic expression of the community.
This distinction between whole/traditional and
part/neo-traditional symbolism facilitates the critical
examination of the phenomenon of commercialization of
the dance and music. One general observation is that the
traditional mode of experiencing the community has been
virtually supplanted by a neo-tradiiional ideology which
seeks to revive community life as an antidote to the crisis
caused by modernization. Seen from this angle, traditional
experiences have been transmuted into neo traditional
ideological tenets.
The t ransition from t he symbolism of the whole to ι he
symbolism of the part created and legitimized the need for
the auionomous development of some components in
relation to others. Such disengagements were accompanied
by further divisions into parts and new autonomous
developments. A charactei istic example of such tendencies
is that not only have the dance and the music become
independent oi' the glendi but the partial entities oi the
music and the dance have been differentiated. In other
words, both the musical and the dance tradition have lost
their long-standing symbolic character and have been
transformed into forms which accelerate new disengage­
ments within the dance itself or the musical process.
Below I shall mention some of the structural changes
brought about by the neo-traditional approach, summarily
lor Ihe instruments and in greater detail for the dance.
The Evolution
of the Instruments
The most important change in the symbolism of the
instruments is the disassociation of the lyra from the
tsamboura and the consequent rapid development of the
former at the expense of the latter. Before World War II
the Olymbians regarded the lyra and tsambouna as integral
parts of a musical entity, known by the term fyrotsimbouna. Disengagement of the lyra from the lyrotsambouna
began in the early 1960s and was completed within the next
two decades.
The time and manner in which the independent
development of the lyra (in relation to the glendi) was
effected in conservative Olymbos differs from its course
in more cosmopolitan kato Karpathos. Nevertheless, in
is.,
both cases the process of disengagement was directly
influenced by the post-War development of the Cretan
lyra, which is linked with the urbanization and "Western­
ization"' of Greek traditional music in general. 4 3 In those
places where the violin has not actually replaced the
traditional lyra as a folk musical instrument, it has
substantially influenced both the way the instrument is
made and the technique of its playing. The Cretan and
the Karpathian lyra lie at opposite ends ot that spectrum
which reflects the influence of the European violin on the
(iieek lyra: the Cretan lyra has been affected most, the
Karpathian one least. 4 4 However, the subsequent devel­
opment of the Cretan lyra as a folkloric element and as
a symbol of authentic Cretan identity has also had a
decisive influence on the promotion of the karpathian lyra
as the main instrument in the dance after the 1960s. Thus
the transition from traditional to neo-traditional symbol­
ism in the intruments at Olymbos was achieved: the Λ/a
replaced the lyrotsambouna as the symbol of Olymbian
identity"'.
Nowadays the traditional meraklidhes censure the
musicians who use elements from modern Cretan music
when playing Olymbian tunes. Moreover, the same critics
dismiss the new way of playing, as well as any morpho­
logical, functional or performative innovation concerning
the indigenous instrument(s), characterizing every devi­
ation from traditional practice as " C r e t a n " , that is
"foreign" {\cni). This attitude is mainly based on the
judgement of the elderly meraklidhes. who associate the
Cretan influence on their musical tradition with the com­
mercialization of the dance. Conversely, those in favour
of innovative trends in playing the lyru accuse the old
/-players of playing like the bagpiper (tsambounistika),
that is without a range of chromatic tones.
One Cretan innovation applied to the Olymhian lyru
is the replacing of the middle string originally of gut, with
one of wire. This change was made to boost the
instrument's acoustics so that it could be played out of
doors, where the large dance events are usually held. Λ
further innovation is that the modern Olymbian lyra is
tuned to a higher pitch than the traditional one, to a point
which makes the elderly singers resentful since they arcunable to sing such high notes. The structural changes
made to the lyra have enabled Ihe instrument io evolve
independently, not only of the tsambouna but also of the
very spirit of the traditional glendi: the /yra-player has
ceased to be a musical colleague of the singers and has
become the prime regulator of ihe glendi and the dance.
The New Dance and Local
Criticism
The neo-traditional dance differs significantly from the
traditional. As in new Olymbian music. SO in contempor­
ary dance the symbolism of parts holds sway rather than
of the whole.This development legitimizes the disen­
gagement of the dance from the glendi and, eventually.
the commercialization of the glendi through iheeommei
cialization of the dance.
One of the most important innovations in today's dance
is its fission into other, smaller dances. This phenomenon
is mainly observed in the community feasts held in the
summer, when the dance often numbers more than 150
participants. In such instances, two or three mcraklidhc•*musieians break the dance somewhere in the middle and
dance the second half as a new dance. Sometimes, a third
dance is created. This breaking of the dance is a bone ot
contention for the Olymbians: traditionalists and
neo-traditionalists accuse the musicians οι exploiting
customs for their own ends. To be specific, the objectors
contend that the fission of the dance denies the Olymbians
the opportunity of fusing into a symbolic community, and
that the musicians" motives are patently financial. On the
other hand, the musicians justify their action by claiming
that they offer a service to the community, explaining thai
h> breaking the dance when it is very large they give all
participants the chance to dance.
A further dimension of the commercialization of the
dance, apart from its fission, is the tactic of "tuning u p " .
Musicians (particularly the lyra-players, who play the
dance nines) use this ruse to increase their takings at
any dance. The procedure is as follows: The /yra-player
suddenly stops playing his instrument, as if to tune it. I his
lakes him much longer than usual, since he pretends
he has difficulties in adjusting his lyra to the other
instruments. After several minutes he resumes playing,
rather insipidly and indifferently. He then stops to retune
his instrument. The /yr.i-player continues in this vein until
the dancer at the head of the chain throws more money
to the instruments or hands over his place to the next one.
Musicians resort to this tactic as a non-offensive way of
discouraging ungenerous dancers from dancing too long
at the head of any particular dance. However, the
musicians play with added zeal (kcl'i) for dancers who
spend money, disregarding any ill-feeling they may create
among those waiting to take their turn at the head of the
dance.
There are also instances where the opinions and actions
of traditionalists and neo-traditionalists converge or
coincide, such as the issue of the behaviour of young
people at the dance. Many young men systematically avoid
dancing the kaio horos, saying that it is " b o r i n g " and
"outmoded". Moreover, they conspicuously flout the
traditional formality of the dance: they join in wherever
they wish, dance at the head of the chain for as long as
they can, stay in the dance for only a short while and then
leave.
Traditional Olymbians view such conduct as absolutely
"foreign" (xeni). Before World War II, when a dancer
and the girls he was dancing finished their dance at the
head of the chain, they remained in their place (next to
(he new head of the dance) and supported the dance till
the end. Traditionalists of all ages and middle-aged
neo-traditionalists characterize the young people s
behaviour as " m o d e r n " , that is "foreign", and for that
matter, a problem for the community. The censurers
complain that the young arc indifferent to Olymbian
customs and see this tendency towards alienation as a
symptom of the new, internal - as opposed to external
exile (xcnilia) experienced by modern Olymbian•. is a result
of the modernization of their way of life.
The shift in people's interest from the traditionalglendi
to the modern dance is reflected in the spatial arrangement
of the chaperones to the girl dancers. Though they con­
tinue, as of old, to sit between the musicians and the dance,
since the mid-1960s they have turned their backs to the
musicians and their eyes on the dancers.
This phenomenon is closely associated with the
declining role of the elderly singers as coordinators of the
dance (masters of ceremonies), a development exacerbated
by the promotion of the musicians (and especially the
/yra-players) as regulators of dance events. Since song has
been detached from the dance, people are no longer able
to form a critical "community" opinion on each cirl
dancer and her family. Consequently, the chaperones must
now judge for themselves the attributes and interests of
the male dancers, assessing their economic and social
status, as well as their marriage preferences, and observing
and interpreting their non-verbal behaviour. To fulfill this
obligation the chaperones have turned their gaze from the
heart of the dance to the dance itself.
Friction between traditionalists and non-traditionalists
frequently stems from the rivalries between singers and
musicians. A typical example of such friction is associated
with a ritual process traditionally known as the kalcvasma
(lit. lowering and slowing down) of the dance, that is the
transition from pints to kaio horos: from dance only to
a combination of dance and song. According to custom
any of the singers taking part in the dance is entitled to
effect this change-over (katevasma). In practice, however,
only acknowledged meraklidhcs can take such initiatives,
for the operation harbours the danger of causing a serious
misunderstanding between the singer and the dancers,
particularly those at the head and tail of the dance, who
are obliged to wait until the mandinadhes are over before
assuming (he lead position in pano horos.
With the domination of the symbolism of parts at the
expense of the whole, a problem has arisen with regard
to the change-over of the dance. I he very few traditional
singers who participate in modern glendia and dances
avoid undertaking it. lest they be misconstrued by the
dancers. On the other hand, the musicians exploit the sin­
gers' stance to justify their insistence on playing only pano
and not kato horos, thus masking their ulterior economic
motives. Not all contemporary musicians subscribe to this
view. Some traditionalist players openly accuse their
colleagues of cashing in on customs. To give an example,
a /yra-player who lives abroad reproved the behaviour of
a renowned /yra-player at the dance held on August 15th
(feast of the Dormition of the Virgin) 1988, when the latter
refused to "change-over" the dance so that the people
could sing good wishes to the newly-married couples.
Like the traditional musicians, many singers are
self-critical in their approach to the problem of katcvasma.
For example, in the opinion of one mcraklis-singer who
1K7
lives permanently in Rhodes, it is not the musicians who
are responsible for anomalies in the dance but the singers.
He accused the modern singers of acting according to
personal, rather than community, criteria and interests,
and of degenerating from being ι he regulators of ihc glendi
to the opportunists of the dance.
Despite the dramatic transition from the traditional
symbolism of the glendi lo the neo-traditional independ­
ence Of the dance and music, the Olymbos dance continues
to be a communtiy event. Phenomena observed elsewhere
in Greece, such as special requests for particular songs and
dances are not encountered in Olymbian celebrations and
feasts. 46 The Olymbos dance may have been commercial­
ized but it has not been commodified, that is it has not
become a folkloric trait like other Greek dances. 4 I he
non-commodification of coniemporary Olymbian dance
is due to its non-objectifical ion: it continues to be actively
experienced as a community process. It is still not
marketable because of the ideological dependence of the
symbolism of the parts on the symbolism of the whole.
The relation between old and new constitutes the cultural
nucleus around which the neotraditional approach has
developed as a response to the crisis of modernization
which poses the false dilemma "Eradicate or commodit>
tradition?" .
The Loss of Customs: Absenee of a Common Discourse
and Hermeneutical Differentiations
/. "Old Men" versus "Young
Innovators
Men":
Conservatives
and
Since the mid-1960s one subject has more or less
monopolized communin interest in both ritual (poetic)
and everyday discussions; namely, " t h e loss of customs 1
(To hasimo ton ethimon, as the Olymbians say). As
mentioned earlier, traditional Olymbians, and especially
the elderly, reprove the young for their heedless
indifference to customs and conspicuous shamelessness.
phenomena they regard as symptoms of the modern "in­
ternal
\enitia (that is alienation) of the Olymbian
community.
The elders* criticism of the actions and views of the
young is often an appropriate way of evaluating the young
peoples families, according to neo-traditional criteria. To
give an example, in the late 1980s a serious misunder­
standing arose between middle-aged and young men in
Olymbos. In two of the coffee shops in the square a
company of older men was sitting at one table and a
company of young men at another. Though the older men
were feasting with traditional discipline and order, the
young men were listening to Greek popular songs, making
a lot of noise. Commenting on this innovative breach of
formality, one of the middle-aged meraklidhc* sang:
Each in his own manner
each according to his conduct
reveals his family
reveals his descent
IH8
The singer upbraided the young men according to
traditional criteria, holding their parents responsible for
their inappropriate behaviour. The deeper meaning of this
observation is thai for the singer and his companions the
cause of the modern crisis in Olvmbos is not, as some
believe, the generation gap, but the wickedness ul certain
families.
When arguing in general about the character and
demeanour of the young, the critics ol ι heir conduct
express implicitly their own opposition to the homogen­
izing ethos of modern society. For instance, the con­
servatives attack the parvenu innovators for their efforts
to acquire the same social standing and esteem in the
community as persons with a family tradition of moral
rectitude.
Sometimes the generalizations and uproven accusations
recited by the "old"' against the " y o u n g " become the
target of reaction on the part of the alleged culprits. To
give an example, at the feast of Ai-Yannis in 1988, when
the old men had censured the young for loss of customs.
a young emigrant sang:
//' the customs arc lost.
the old will be to blame
for when the fish rots,
it rots from the head
The young man s intervention was not taken up by
either the elderly or the youngglendistes. The former were
divided in their attitude to the young emigrant (some
agreed with him. others disagreed), for which reason they
avoided discussing the issue. On the other hand, the young
men at the feast hesitated to compete with the "old men'
in framing their arguments poetically, and so they too
abandoned the issue of who is responsible for the loss of
customs.
//. Local•- versus Expatriates: "Authentic"and
(xinoi)
Olymbians
"Foreign"
I ensions existing between the permanent residents of
Olymbos and the emigrants, regardless ol social rank, are
always covertly expressed through the glendi. One such
case concerns the traditional singers criticism of the
presence of other (neo-traditional) singers at the glendi.
Traditional sinuers become indignant when feasting inside
the village hall, because of the lack of discipline: the men,
women and especially the childern make so much noise
they are unable to hear the mandinadhes of other singers
in the compan> and, therefore, unable lo reply. The
outcome of this, now typical, disorder is that iheglendia
held inside the hall, though observing customary formal­
ities, are totally devoid of substantial content. At one such
glendi in the 1980s, a mcrakus who is a permanent resident
of Olymbos parodied the inane verbiage of some expatriate
glendistes:
You stand like columns
in the middle of the hall
Your
mandinadhes
are like a donkey's farts
The contrast between the traditional and neo-traditional element is weakening, as the Olymbos community
is being modernized. Labour relations between Olymbians
and "foreigners" (that is persons from other regions of
1
Greece) give rise to new social connections and network ;
of acquaintances. More specifically, in Karpathos
Olymbians develop close relations with kaiohoriies, while
in Rhodes and Piraeus they get to know and have dealings
with people from all over Greece. Thus, when an
Olymbian family celebrates a joyful event (a wedding or
christening) today, it invites people from a diversity of
cultural backgrounds. Strangers among strangers, without
knowledge of the local mores, and often with a folkloric
conception of "traditional" customs, the feux-pas of the
"foreign" guests in the dance often spark misunderstand­
ings between traditionalist, neo-traditionalist and modern­
izing Olymbians. Any such friction is treated with
tolerance by the organi/crs and with polite indifference
b) the others. In each case, however, such events become
the pretext for animated discussions behind the scenes of
the ritual.
I. et us look at an example. At a wedding glendi held
in Rhodes in 1989 a professional band was hired to
entertain the guests. Many of the Olymbians present were
upset by the absence of (Carpathian instruments, but what
irritated them most was the estranging and, consequently,
insulting excuse given by the organizers when asked why.
The hosts declared that they preferred the "cosmopoli­
tan" band to the Karpathian instruments because they
considered the Olymbian dance tunes would be tiring for
the "foreign" guests of honour.
Vexed by the bourgeois type of entertainment, a com­
pany of young singers who live permanently on Rhodes
took part in a peculiar glendi of their own: they scribbled
mandinadhes on their napkins and passed them round to
each other while still at the wedding table. This written
glendi censured, on the one hand, the " m o d e r n " (that is
bourgeois) tactics of the neo-Olymbians as "foreign" to
Olymbian tradition and, on the other, stressed that today's
Olymbians must unite as a community through ihe glendi
in order to maintain their distinctive cultural identity
within Greece.
Summary and Conclusions: Cultural Change and Political
Confrontations through the Dance
The evolution of the dance at Olymbos reflects the
dynamic relationship between culture and politics in this
society. Reactions to the cultural change and political
confrontations experienced by the Olymbian communtiy
during the twentieth century have been clearly manifested
through the dance. Kanaka/idhes and emigrants, locals
and expatriates, traditionalists and neo-traditionalists have
all used the dance as ι symbolic means (I) of maintaining
or enhancing their family's reputation and standing in the
community and (2) of expressing their common identity
as Olymbians. Before World War II the relationship
between culture and politics followed the logic of holistic
symbolism, that is to say it was a relationship between the
whole and the part. This may be ascertained from the fact
that the political differentiation of the Olymbian com­
munity into kanakaridhes and emigrants was expressed
through the common cultural "language ' o\ customs, and
in particular through two important symbols of the
traditional community: the dance and the glendi.
That political differences were expressed through a
common cultural language facilitates our understand
of the logic w hereby the confrontations of kanakaridhe*
and emigrants not only posed no threat to the unity ol
the community, but actually strengthened it; a tangible
demonstration of the supra-political character of
traditional Olymbian culture. Furthermore, the holistic
relationship between culture and politics in pre-Wai
Olymbos constitutes the main reason for the incessant
expression of political confrontations as hermeneutical
differentiations (between the conservative kanakaridhes
and the innovative emigrants) in relation to an indisputable
cultural reality: the Olymbian community.
Since Unification, Olymbians have experienced an
unprecedented cultural crisis of estrangement from their
traditional community. This crisis was instigated by the
mass emigration of the 1950s and '60s and was crystallized
during the period of modernization, the 1970s and "80s
In seeking a causal relationship with which to explain
the modern crisis in then society, elderly Olymbians have
focused on the idea of expatriation, that is on the tradi­
tional symbolism of the cultural Elsewhere, and have
accused the expatriate Olymbians of being responsible for
the break up of the community and its estrangement from
traditional customs
The discourse of the elderly on the "loss of customs
has split the community ethically. The Olymbians of the
diaspora are divided into those who seek the revival of
tradition (neo-traditionalists) and those who advocate ι hetotal abandonment of traditional customs (modernize! s ι
Both these opposing tendencies are rejected by those who
came of age in pre-War Olymbos (traditionalists), who
maintain thai neither the return to the old way of life noi
complete dissociation from the past are possible. The
neo-traditionalists and modernizers have doubts about the
unity of the Olymbian community in practice and,
therefore, about the existence of a common discourse for
the expression of cultural differences. In other words, the
post-War relationship between culture and politics follows
the logic ot the symbolism of parts: it is a relationship
between parts without a transcendental (holistic) dimen­
sion. The outcome of this fact is that modern political
differentiations do not unite the Olymbians culturally, as
they did in the old days. On the contrary, the political
confrontations stem from (and reproduce) contemporai ν
cultural fragmentation, individualizing the problem o\ the
crisis.
I he lack ol a common cultural language has contrib­
uted to the partisanship of political adversaries who desist
from airing their differences in public at a suprapolitical
level. The division of the Olymbian community into two
IK!)
political factions in the 1980s led to the unprecedented
refuse] of many Olymbians to participate in community
events. During this decade many Olymbians systematically
avoided going toglendia, or even attending church, with
their political opponents.
The disengagement of the dance from the μΐάιύϊ and
its consequent commercialization are significant symptoms
of contemporary cultural change in Olymbos. However,
despite its modernization, the dance continues to constitute
a common medium of expression for most Olymbians,
who thus resist alienation from their traditional culture.
In its present form the dance symbolizes the Olymbians'
reaction to the xenitia of modernity w ith which Olymbos,
like the whole traditional world, is threatened: cultural
assimilation by the "mechanized super culture of the
West
Translation: ALEXANDRA DOUMAS
Notes
This article is based on ethnographic material gathered between 198ft
and 1989 in field research on Karpalhos ami interviews wilh Olymbians now
permanently settled in Rhodes, Piraeus, Baltimore and New York.
• By iradiih'iiii! ndctj
1 mean a non-industrial Society, particularly a
peasant one. For a definition of "tradition"' and "traditional" see below.
I tic term dance as used here refers to traditional dance, that is the dances
danced in [radihoii.il sock-ties, unless otherwise specified
A
On anthropological research on dance tec K;icpplcr (1978), Cowan
(1990).
11
Loutzaki (1979-80. 1983-5). Raflis < IW^K Cowan (1990).
On the concept of "social practice" sec Ortner (198-4).
(in the concept of'hegemony' seeGramsci (1971), Williams (1977:110>.
On Avlona's relation to Olymbos see Philippides (197V! IK). Philippides
(I98?iin
9
Philippides (1973:23).
10 On ihertj.un/inad/ra at Olymbos see Caraveli (1985), Kavouras (1990).
I) On the etymology and interpretation of Olymbian terms see
Mihailidis-Nouaros (1972) and Ylinas (1970). On the aesthetic, economic and
symbolic value of the kolaina at Olymbos see Nkiadha (1990).
On the question of tradition see Maclntyre (1984:204-25). Kiourtsakis
(1979). (1983:17-81).
13 Karagheorghi-Halkia (IVHIi.
On Olymbian emigration see Philippides (1973), Vernier (1979).
Karagheorghi-Halkia (1981).
' In i\\e glendi in the form of mandinadhes and in the laments or dirges
of the womenfolk On the Olympian lament see Caraveli (1985, 1986).
Kavouras (1990).
16
Dttbtsch (194
On the use of the concepts of noYjptOs and MOOS in Crete see Herzfeld
(1985).
18 On the ( Hvruhian glendi see Caraveli (I9K5|. Kavouras (1990).
19,< >n the concept oi the ntcnklis in Olymboi sec Caraveli (1985:264 5)
tnd Kavouias (1990:217-22. 286-94).
On the relationship between \cnitia and death in Greek folk songs see
U (1974). Da η forth (1982:90 115), Saunicr (1983:250-3), Kavouras
(1990:100-36).
* Olymbians say "a good glendi is measured by the tears" see Caraveli
(1985:263).
On the subject of observing the rules of the glendi see Caraseli
11985:263-4). Kavouras (1990:257-62).
** On kefi in relation to the glendi see Caraveli (1985:263 4i. Kavouras
(1990:212-6).
- 4 At unscheduled, spontaneous glendia the singing docs not invariably
lead on to dancing.
Olymbians show a more general aversion to the rembHiko subculture
(ol which the dances ftasaprtos and /eimbekikos are intcg-.ι ports), which
they regard as "Turkish", that is "foreign" to their tradition. On the Influence
of the Oriental urban glendi on the traditional Greek glendi see Baud-Bovy
(1984:55-70).
On the distinction of traditional Greek song, music and dance as insular
and mainland sec Baud-Bovy (1984:25-40).
On the significance of personal identity in traditional society sec
Since World War II this la
ically, because gossip
(tourer ro) has become the principal form of informal social control in
Olymbos. Since tlie 1960s mothers have sent their daughters to dance alongside
dose relatives, afraid ol ιΐκ- damaging effect of gossip on the moral standing
of the girl and the family.
On the relationship between economic and symbolic capital in Olymbos
see Vernier (1979:62-3). For a critical discussion of Vernier see Kavouras
(1990:368-74). Moreover, Vernier's (1979:65) information that there were two
weekly dances (one for the poor and one for the rich) is incorrect: economic
distinctions were not made regarding participation in the glendi and the dance.
31
Kavouras (1990:212-7 and in passiml. ( ar.n.li (1985).
• ~ On the customary inheritance system of Kaipathos see Mih.i
Nouaros (1984). Vernier (1979, 1985). Daskalopoulou-Kapctaiiaki (1987).
In Olymbos organopaiktei (lie. instrument-players) are known as
organs (lit. instruments) or paignia (lit. players). On the usage of the word
organa instead of organopatkte* in another Greek community see Cowan
(1990:101). Cowan's interpretation of the reduction of the musicians
personality into mere 'instruments" for the dance requires further elaboration,
especially with regard to I IK• symbolism of "the organa" in relation to the
commercialization of the dance in Sohos. in traditional Olymbos. however.
the term organo is used as a figure of speech, alluding synecdochically to
the specific person playing the indigenous musical instrument
3
On the social organization of Olymbos see Philippides (1973) and
Vernier [1979, 1985).
The sole exception, which proses the rule, was an incident known to
elderly Olymbians as the "revolt of the pews". In 1922 a group of emigrants
broke the pews in the central church in Olymbos. Given that the pews belonged
only to kanakiridiM
(Ins act was regarded by the community as an open
attack on the social establishment in Olymbos. On the "revolt of the pews"
see Konsolas (1964:244-50)
The Olymbians call those Karpathians whose villages lie to the south
of Olymbos katohoritcs. This localist distinction is traditionally associated
with a culmta! evaluation: the pano/ron re* (the northerners, i.e. theOKinhi.uis)
consider themselves superior to the katohorites (the southerners)
17
According to the testimonies of elderly Olymbians the musicians who
played at glendia in southern Karpathos have received cash payments since
the 1880s. On the usage of money in the Karpathiarii/eridj during the second
half of the nineteenth century see Halkias (1980:98-103).
38
Fournisma means praise, see Mihailidis-Nouaros (1972:442)
On the period of starvation and the total black market see
Mihailidts Nouaros (1951:15-8).
4 0
Philippides (1973:36-9).
On Ihe hegemonic localism ol the kanakaridhei sec Kavouras (1990:
396-411).
47
During the 1980s there was an average of ten weddings ea;
" ' ι Ι •1ι poet is the voice of the primitive community, and the primitive
voice of the modern community..
see Diamond (1986:132).
4 4
Anoyannakis (1976). Baud-Bovy (1984) and I iavas (1983-5).
O n • comparative presentation of the evolution of the Cretan and
Karpathian \yra see t.iavas (1983-5).
46 On the subject of individual requests for tunes and dances parangclies
in the lireek town of Sohos see Cowan (1990:89-133, 171-87).
Maclntyre (1984:33-5).
u On
190
the Olymbos
As, for example, a variation of the hasapikos
marriage market" see Vernier(1979).
48
The expression is from Seferis (1974:356).
known as synaki.