This is the first article of yours that I've read and it's highlighted just how much I don't know, coming from an Anglophone context. I'm struck deeply by the myriad connections between Hekate and St. Barbara, for whom my late aunt was named. I'll be subscribing to read more!
Thank you Sasha. Not coming originally from Greece (although a medium once told me I was Greek in an earlier lifetime!) I relish all this history in its widest sense that you are opening our hearts and minds to. 🙏
This was absolutely fascinating. I'd never heard of the pudding, but I want to find a recipe and make it now. It's so interesting to read about the parallels the Church constructed between the old ways and Christianity - what a clever and insidious way to manipulate cultures. In Britain, I know they often build chapels over sacred springs. I read somewhere that that was why Elefsina became a port - to 'pollute' the spring there, but I don't know if that's true. Perhaps you do!
Oh dear, I’m disappointing everyone asking me for recipes 😞 This and all the dishes I’ve described in relation to saints feasts are sacred ritual meals. You won’t find a proper recipe… they are passed down in families and they’re only meant to be prepared on the specific day and in the context of community participation in honouring the saint. It would be kind of disrespectful to those for whom this remains a sacred practice to just give out a recipe on social media, as it would defeat the object of what I’m trying to do here… it would also be disrespectful to just make it for the sake of it without the context… The other thing is that it really needs to be taught: all these dishes involving boiled wheat have the potential to be dangerously toxic if not handled properly; the older ladies in the villages know how to do it safely, but I personally wouldn’t attempt it.
What you could do though, is perhaps get to know some of the older ladies where you live, or go to church on a few saints’ days and begin to ask and participate a little. If it’s something that works for you then that’s the way in…
Not at all sure about the Eleusina thing you mention- polluting water would not be the way they did things; so many sacred water traditions have been kept and the rituals simply performed in different names. It may be someone’s theory but I don’t think it’s true…
The switching of names and integration of the old into the new has been done for millennia… it is also the secret of our resilience in some ways 😊
Oh, of course - I didn't mean it like that, and I'm not asking for a recipe from you because, as you say, it is folk knowledge. I thought maybe one of the women in my neighbourhood could tell me about it because I'd like to know the other ingredients and share it with my children. My mother-in-law has the wheat thing down from koliva, but she's never mentioned this. I'm sad that all these traditions are getting lost because it's part of my children's culture. I've lived here for 12 years, and no one I know partakes in this practice on St Barbara's day (although to be fair not many of my acquaintances are very religious - I'm sure my husband's grandmother in Kerkyra would have known. She couldn't read or write, but she knew every saint's day. She was one of those pure souls and I miss her.)
I often make things from other cultures with my kids - I have never thought of it as disrespectful before, but rather as a learning experience. Last Advent, we did a different winter tradition from around the world every day - the Julbock and tomtes from Scandinavia, latkes from the Jewish people, St Lucia bread (on St Lucia's day, of course), etc - and we learnt a bit about the culture/beliefs/religions because that's not something they get exposed to much where we live. I think it's a tactile and memorable way to learn, rather than just reeling off information at them, but maybe I was wrong. I wouldn't find it offensive for another person to get to know my country or religion through baking Christmas cake or hot-cross buns, but I have to remember that's only my perspective. I see why you (and likely many others) would see it as offensive because it looks like cultural/religious appropriation, but I have never meant it in that way. I just want to learn and have my kids grow up with open minds by exposing them to as much of the world and its history as possible. I'm sure you understand that wish, particularly considering the education system they are in, but maybe this was the wrong way to go about it. Perhaps words alone should be enough.
I wish I could remember where I heard that Elefsina thing - I think it was in a series of lectures from a professor at an American university, but my memory is terrible these days!
This is the first article of yours that I've read and it's highlighted just how much I don't know, coming from an Anglophone context. I'm struck deeply by the myriad connections between Hekate and St. Barbara, for whom my late aunt was named. I'll be subscribing to read more!
Thank you so much 🙏 I’m so glad you enjoyed this piece, do have a browse as there’s quite a few feature articles already up and more on their way!
Thank you Sasha. Not coming originally from Greece (although a medium once told me I was Greek in an earlier lifetime!) I relish all this history in its widest sense that you are opening our hearts and minds to. 🙏
This was absolutely fascinating. I'd never heard of the pudding, but I want to find a recipe and make it now. It's so interesting to read about the parallels the Church constructed between the old ways and Christianity - what a clever and insidious way to manipulate cultures. In Britain, I know they often build chapels over sacred springs. I read somewhere that that was why Elefsina became a port - to 'pollute' the spring there, but I don't know if that's true. Perhaps you do!
Oh dear, I’m disappointing everyone asking me for recipes 😞 This and all the dishes I’ve described in relation to saints feasts are sacred ritual meals. You won’t find a proper recipe… they are passed down in families and they’re only meant to be prepared on the specific day and in the context of community participation in honouring the saint. It would be kind of disrespectful to those for whom this remains a sacred practice to just give out a recipe on social media, as it would defeat the object of what I’m trying to do here… it would also be disrespectful to just make it for the sake of it without the context… The other thing is that it really needs to be taught: all these dishes involving boiled wheat have the potential to be dangerously toxic if not handled properly; the older ladies in the villages know how to do it safely, but I personally wouldn’t attempt it.
What you could do though, is perhaps get to know some of the older ladies where you live, or go to church on a few saints’ days and begin to ask and participate a little. If it’s something that works for you then that’s the way in…
Not at all sure about the Eleusina thing you mention- polluting water would not be the way they did things; so many sacred water traditions have been kept and the rituals simply performed in different names. It may be someone’s theory but I don’t think it’s true…
The switching of names and integration of the old into the new has been done for millennia… it is also the secret of our resilience in some ways 😊
Oh, of course - I didn't mean it like that, and I'm not asking for a recipe from you because, as you say, it is folk knowledge. I thought maybe one of the women in my neighbourhood could tell me about it because I'd like to know the other ingredients and share it with my children. My mother-in-law has the wheat thing down from koliva, but she's never mentioned this. I'm sad that all these traditions are getting lost because it's part of my children's culture. I've lived here for 12 years, and no one I know partakes in this practice on St Barbara's day (although to be fair not many of my acquaintances are very religious - I'm sure my husband's grandmother in Kerkyra would have known. She couldn't read or write, but she knew every saint's day. She was one of those pure souls and I miss her.)
I often make things from other cultures with my kids - I have never thought of it as disrespectful before, but rather as a learning experience. Last Advent, we did a different winter tradition from around the world every day - the Julbock and tomtes from Scandinavia, latkes from the Jewish people, St Lucia bread (on St Lucia's day, of course), etc - and we learnt a bit about the culture/beliefs/religions because that's not something they get exposed to much where we live. I think it's a tactile and memorable way to learn, rather than just reeling off information at them, but maybe I was wrong. I wouldn't find it offensive for another person to get to know my country or religion through baking Christmas cake or hot-cross buns, but I have to remember that's only my perspective. I see why you (and likely many others) would see it as offensive because it looks like cultural/religious appropriation, but I have never meant it in that way. I just want to learn and have my kids grow up with open minds by exposing them to as much of the world and its history as possible. I'm sure you understand that wish, particularly considering the education system they are in, but maybe this was the wrong way to go about it. Perhaps words alone should be enough.
I wish I could remember where I heard that Elefsina thing - I think it was in a series of lectures from a professor at an American university, but my memory is terrible these days!
Your research & dedication are a gift to all worlds...
Advent Blessings
Thank you so much! 🙏🙏🙏
These great archetypal Beings, if re-membered can help us reshape our reality!
xox