FESTIVAL OF THE BULL: OX-OFFERING, SUMMER- AND SAINT-FEAST ON MYTILINI/LESBOS: AGIA PARASKEUĒ AROUND THE SUMMER SOLSTICE 1992
Keywords:
Greece, ancient and modern, religious festival, animal sacrifice, official and popular faith, identities, migration, pilgrimageAbstract
The liturgical festival dedicated to Agios (i.e. Saint) Charalampos, the protector of the farmers, is celebrated annually in the mating season of the horses, so that the saint may provide for the fecundity of the horses. Since he is expected to assure success of the harvest as well, he is also celebrated later during the year with a popular festival in the village of Agia Paraskeuē, where the ox-sacrifice constitutes the climax of the festival. The purifying procession is also important: In Agia Paraskeuē a sacrificial bull is paraded through the village. But, the following procession indicates a transfer from the culture (the village) into the nature (the mountain of the Bull, i.e. Tauros). Here, on the summit of Tauros, the fertilityensuring bull-slaughtering is performed, after the blessing of the animal by the local priest while standing on the step of the church. Accordingly, the festival presents a ritual, which several within the official Greek Orthodox Church still consider to be pagan. On the other hand, the festival is situated within the religious and cosmological context of the Orthodox Church, and they make extensive use of Orthodox symbolism, faith and ritual practice. The sacrificed bull, which is consumed as a communal meal, kesketsi, is dedicated by an emigrant. He represents a group of people that always return home to the village during the annual festival of the saint. This is why there is not a fixed date for the celebration of the festival, only that it is always celebrated around the grain harvest. In 1992 it was postponed until the schools had terminated in South Africa, where a great contingent from the village has settled. In this festival dedicated to a deceased Christian saint, horses and the horse races are important elements, particularly for the youths, and the festival concludes by a great communal meal where the whole village participate. The various participants at the feast often have entirely different purposes for participating in the festivities. The feast amounts to a popular gathering where all the activities that are being performed renew and confirm networks that constitutes village solidarity. In the festival we also meet the coupling of “Greekness” and Orthodoxy, through the concept that the Greek War of Liberation had divine sanction, since, according to the local legend, the saint appeared on the mountain, Tauros before the war of liberation broke out. After this miraculous appearance, the festival has been celebrated annually since 1774, and it is around the religious aspect of the cult that all the other activities circulate. The article aims to explore the relation between the official and popular faith in the festival, while discussing some of the many meanings and activities that constitutes the festival.
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