The good weather means festivals. My village has just had one, which I missed because I was present at another one in Epirus. The feast of Αγία Παρασκευή is celebrated on 26th July. Paraskevi was a second century saint who survived being boiled in oil and thrown in a snake pit. She was less fortunate when the Romans beheaded her. You can read about her here: https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Αγία_Παρασκευή_η_Μεγαλομάρτυς
She is the patron saint of a tiny village called Rupsia (Ρουψιά), which is quite near the Albanian frontier. There is a lovely church in Roupsia called The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Τα Εισόδια της Θεοτόκου). It is much more impressive than the εξωκλήσι Αγία Παρασκευή, which lies a kilometre outside the village. An εξωκλήσι is a church outside a town or village. Over the years I have wondered why Rupsia celebrated Αγία Παρασκευή rather than the feast of its own church. Maybe it’s the climate. The feast of the Presentation is on 21st November. The winter climate in Epirus can be brutal, so that may explain why the feast of Αγία Παρασκευή is celebrated. Let’s not forget that the Italian invasion of Greece and Albania in the winter of 1940-41 ended in defeat.
Hunting was banned during Covid. It is also banned right now because the boar sows are farrowing. We were warned by the villagers to take it easy on the road in case mothers and piglets jumped out in front of the car. The problem is widespread. Locally, there are problems in the western part of Thessaloniki: https://www.ethnos.gr/greece/article/219055/thessalonikhemfanisthkanxanaagriogoyroynathathrhnhsoymethymataleeiodhmarxosneapolhssykeon
Turning to Greece as a whole, it has been a bad ten days for women with femicides in Rethymno (Crete), Zakynthos and Athens. The last victim was only 17years old, strangled by her Pakistani partner. The press used the word σύντροφος (partner), which struck me as an unusual word to use in the context of such young people, but the perpetrator was living with her, much against the wishes of her mother. He had keys to the house, went in one evening and strangled her. Will he ever be caught?
At the risk of playing the Greek game of highlighting foreigners, the victim in Zakynthos was savagely attacked by her Albanian husband. Such was the ferocity of the attack that the husband bent the blade. He has a history of domestic violence, – ενδοοικογενειακή βία in Greek. The woman was beaten and then stabbed. She was 41.
The woman in Rethymno had the temerity to ask for a divorce. She was stabbed in the neck and throat. She was 56. The husband claims he has no history of ill-treating her.
PASOK has opened a dialogue on its digital platform to address the problem. I hope it turns out to be more than a talking shop. The news reports that I have read make no mention of the total number of spousal killings this year, but I guess it must be approaching 30. Very depressing.