9th Animart - Experiential Art School 12-22 of July 2015 at Delphi
Shrove Monday, also called “Koulouma” in Greek, is the first day of the Great Lent and is celebrated with special customs all around Greece. The most traditional Greek customs related to Shrove Monday are picnicking and kite flying on the famous Philopapou hill, near the Acropolis of Athens. You can also find different, more special customs in a short distance from Attica, like the following: “Alevromoutzouromata” (flour smudging) in Galaxidi, “Vlach Wedding” in Thebe, “Gaitanaki” with dancing and singing in Livadeia and “The Ghost of Charmana” in Amfissa. If you attend the flour smudging in Galaxidi you’ll find yourself in the middle of...
Nowadays, it’s possible to travel chiefly for recreation. Longer ago, however, travel had additional importance. The journals and observations of travelers of years past constitute an important, and sometimes unique source of information about a country’s historical situation. You will find ample evidence of this even in the first few pages of “Foreign Travelers in Greece, from A.D. 333 to A.D. 1821,” by Kyriakos Simopoulos. The detailed and often remarkable descriptions left by travelers over the years are surprising. In this worthy volume, you will encounter many stories about pirates, sea battles, treasure hunting, and unexpected...
Compared to ultra modern fabrics with their invisible weave, the traditional loom with its clean, distinct strands looks ancient. And indeed it is!
The history of the loom starts as early as the mid- seventh millennium. The patroness of weaving in ancient times seems to have been the Goddess Athena, so called "Athena Ergane." Also, all the Minoan and Mycenaean palaces of the second millennium had workshops with vertical looms. Possibly the first mention of weaving within the Greek literary tradition is in Homer’s Odyssey, as the faithful Penelope wove during day and during the night unraveled what she had woven, confounding her...
