Village Life in Lesvos
Perhaps the least
known and most charming aspect of Lesvos is life
in the traditional mountain villages. While most
travelers stick to the beaches and seaports, life
in the villages goes on as it has for hundreds of
years though now modern conveniences like
electricity, television and motorized
transportation have made it a bit easier. In a
typical village, life revolves around the main
square and the cafeneons around it. The men work
in the fields or whatever crafts they have been
trained in. But no matter how hard they work they
always find time to go to the cafeneons. For the
men of the village it is their home away from
home. Or perhaps their homes are their home away
from
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There are carpenters who build doors and window
frames and whatever else is needed. There are guys
who build roofs or stone walls and pavement. There
is a barber who will shave you using a straight
razor and plenty of hot lather. There is usually a
dry good store that sells anything from beans to
canned foods, soap, and whatever is grown locally
and can be stored. There are butchers who not only
carve up the meat but actually slaughter it in the
shop. If a villager decides it is time to eat one
of his sheep, either for a special occasion or
just to have the meat, the animal is lead to the
butcher shop and using techniques that have been
passed down from father to son, first hypnotizes,
then kills, skins and cleans the animal in about
15 minutes. Every village has a bakery and some
may have more than one. The old ovens burn wood,
usually scrap or olive. The bread they make is
usually very
healthy.
A majority of the people in the villages are old.
Most of the young leave after highschool to work
in Mytilini, Athens or overseas. Many of the old
people have lived in America or Australia and come
back to their ancestral home to retire. Some of
the old people never left and continue to work the
fields and orchards their parents and grandparents
worked. Many villages have olive trees and in
October-November when the olives are ripe all
activity is focused on the collecting and picking.
Many villages have an olive-oil cooperative. The
olives are pressed locally or in a nearby village
that has a facility and the profits are
shared.Cheese is usually home made since many people have sheep and goats. The process of cheese-making is virtually un-changed from ancient times. The milk is cooked outdoors in a big cauldren. Some villages have their own cheese factories where farmers can sell or trade their milk. Other villages have wallnut trees and you will know when they are in season because everyone's hands will be dyed black from picking them. In many villages a man's wealth is measured by how many sheep he owns. |
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Products like shoes, tables, chairs, socks,
clothes. houseplants, carpets and almost anything
you can imagine are sold out of trucks that make
their way through the villages. Some of these
mobile stores are owned by gypsies who not only
travel from village to village but from island to
island too. Fresh fish is sold out of trucks that
load up from the fishing boats of Molyvos, Skala
Kaloni and the other fishing ports of the island,
and then drive through all the villages announcing
what they have through a loudspeaker. They will
stop in the platia and a crowd will gather, most
to look on and a few to
buy.There are
trucks that come through town calling for people
to bring out their old clothes and furniture and
others that repair pots and
pans.
There is usually a 'periptero' where you can buy
cigarettes, gum, envelopes, matches,
newspapers(sometimes), and many other daily
'necesities'. If it is not a free standing
building then there will be a store which serves
the same purpose, usually near the main platia.
Many of the village platias are centered around a
giant 'platanos' or plane tree. Sometimes
important announcements are posted on these trees
and in some villages the inside of the tree is
actually hollow and used for storage. Some of
these trees have provided cool shade in the hot
summer months for hundreds of years. In some
villages farmers will exhibit and sell their
produce in the
platia.
The village life for the older men and some of the
younger men too revolves around the cafeneons. The
old men come and go appearing at different
cafeneons
in various formations
all day long. There are just under four-hundred
inhabitants in the village of Xidera, perhaps a
third of them men. There are seven
cafeneons
. The women generally don't go to the cafeneons
unless they happen to own it. They stay within the
walls of their homes and gardens or work in the
fields until sunset when they come out to sit in
groups on the street and talk with one
another.
The cafeneons can be lively with conversation.
Card games usually draw a crowd. I can't walk into
a cafeneon without someone buying me an ouzo and
asking me about life in America. Many of the old
men you see speak English but they will not let
you know unless you ask them directly. I don't
know if they feel rusty or shy because they have
not used the language in so long but there are
always one or two surprises waiting to happen in
any room full of old men. Some of them have spent
their lives in America and have returned to their
ancestral home to retire. On a Sunday or even
during the week you may find the village musicians
in the cafeneons. The longer they play the more
fun it gets as the more people join in, some
singing along and others
dancing.
Some of the cafeneons are run by women who are
almost like den-mothers to the men. There are few
if any restaurants in the villages. Food is served
at the cafeneons and the owners are almost always
excellent cooks. They usually serve one special a
day and then basic foods that they always have on
hand like fried potatoes, salads, feta and
whatever fish they have bought off the trucks.
Many times when I see Tryphonos at his cafe for my
breakfast or coffee I will ask him to buy some
makeral, gopes, sardines or another variety of
fish if a truck comes around and they look fresh.
Then at night we have a feast. Sometimes he will
phone the house and tell me that a truck is in
town with a certain type of fish and he asks me if
he should buy it for us for dinner. For breakfast
you can always get eggs, fresh bread and cheese
and of course excellent Greek coffee. A meal in a
village cafeneon will generally cost a fraction of
what a meal in a restaurant will cost. There are
no menus. You have to ask what they
have.
Most cafeneons have a television in the corner and
if there is nothing else to do people may be
sitting around watching a movie though in some
villages, reception is limited because of
interference by the mountans. Though TV seems to
have filled in the gaps between conversation, it
has by no means dominated life in the cafeneons.
Unless there is something important going on like
elections or a big basketball game the television
is treated like a fellow patron who talks a lot
but nobody pays that much attention to unless he
says something interesting. Then they will discuss
it amongst themselves and forget the TV is there.
There is almost always a village priest who you
will see walking to and from wherever it is that
priests go. Many times they can be found in the
cafeneons with the boys or even watching a soccer
match. Though they can look quite severe, with
long beards and dressed in black robes, they are
actually very approachable and it is not a sin to
offer to buy one a drink while you are conversing
in the cafeneons. Regardless of whether they
accept or order a coffee instead, they will be
happy to speak with you about village life, both
material and spiritual.
There is always more than one church in or around
the village and the popular Saint day of a
particular church is celebrated at a Panayiri with
services and a celebration with food wine and
dancing. The August 15th celebration of the Virgin
Mary is the biggest. There are musicians, roasting
of lambs and dancing that goes on until dawn. At
other times during the year people will visit
neighboring villages on their particular saint's
day. The priest also administers events like
baptisms, funerals and everything in between.
Usually the entire village turns out for the
service and then goes to the reception in the
cafeneons. For very special events a high ranking
priest will come from a larger town or from
Mytilini. Many of the churches in the village are
quite old and impressive, containing icons and
wall paintings that are historical and
valuable.
Very few villages have hotels but usually there is
a guesthouse of some sort for the few 'strangers'
who come or people who come to work in the village
for short periods. In the summer the villages are
full of activity. People return from Athens or
abroad and the streets are filled with children.
The cafes are full of men and women who sit
outside and enjoy the cool evening air which is
alive with music and conversation. Inside the cafe
owner is kept busy but this is the period when
they make most of their money so they really don't
mind and during the summer there are always family
members around to help. The temperature is
generally much more pleasant in the mountains of
Lesvos then it is on the plains or the coast.
Anyway there is no village that is more then
twenty minutes away from the nearest
beach.
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