Cultural Insight
Traditional Greek Dances
In cotemporary Greek dances and rythms we find musical motifs of ancient Greece. The traditional Greek dances are divided into two categories: the sping/leaping dance and the shuffle/dragging dance known as sirtos. Most dances are circle dances, start with the right foot and move counter-clockwise. Each dances is linked by a handkerchief or by holding hands, wrists or shoulders.
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Greece has 6 mainland regions: Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Central Greece and Penopolesse. In addition, the Greek islands fall into the following categories. The Ionian islands between Greece and Italy which includes the island of Kithira south of Peloponnese, the Saronic islands near Athens, Cyclades occupying the central Aegean Sea, the North Aegean islands close to the West coast of Turkey, the Dodecanese islands, occupying the southeast of the Aegean, between Crete and Turkey, the Sporades which are a small cluster of islands near the island of Euboea, and Crete, the largest island which lies in the southern part of the Aegean Sea.
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During my stay in Greece and throughout this past months I had the opportunity to watch, learn and paticipate of some of this traitional dances.
Folklore Tales
Kallikantzaroi
In Greek folklore there's this tale that the all world is supported by a huge tree. At the bottom of this tree lay these creatures, big and ugly like goblins and black from the bottom to the top due the dust that sets down below. During all the year they saw and saw some more the tree which supports life, with the exception of some days. The 12 days of Christmas! During these time these creatures, because of their greed of Christmas candy, they leave their "work" and head up to the surface to steal the candys from the house of the people. During this time, there's the belief that one should not make a mess in their kitchen trying to get some candy for themselves or else this mess will atract these goblin like creatures into their home!
While Christmas takes place at the surface and the monsters hunt for sweets, down below the tree's body starts to heal, until it becomes perfectly steady and strong as it once was at the end of the 12 days.
By this time the goblins head back down where they came from and so their "work" starts again.
Giving origin to a cycle that repeats every year that goes by.