Anastenaria

The Anastenaria (Bulgarian Нестинарство, Greek Αναστενάρια) is a traditional fire-walking ritual annually re-enacted in some villages in Northern Greece and Southern Bulgaria. The communities which celebrate this ritual are descended from refugees who entered Greece from Eastern Thrace following the Balkan Wars of 1911-12 and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923. This ritual is celebrating also in several Bulgarian villages in the Strandzha mountains.

In each new settlement they built special shrines known as "konaki" to contain their holy icons and the red kerchiefs which hang from them. Here, on the eve of the feast of Saint Constantine and Saint Helena, they gather to dance to the music of the Thracian lyre and drum. After some time they believe that they may be "seized" by Saint Constantine and enter a trance. On the morning of the Saints' day the gather at the "konaki" and proceed to a well to be blessed with holy water, and sacrifice animals. The rules about the nature of the beasts to be slain are precise, but differ from village to village. In the evening a fire is lit in an open space, and after dancing for some time in the "konaki", the "anastenarides" go to it carrying their ikons. After dancing around it in a circle, individual anastenarides dance over the hot coals as the saint moves them.

The villagers say that the custom originated in the Middle Ages when the church of Saint Constantine in their original home in Kosti, now in Bulgaria, caught fire, and the voices of the saints calling for help could be heard from inside. The villagers who braved the flames to rescue them were unharmed, being protected by the saints.

Despite this "explanation", leading Greek folklorist George A. Megas noted that the complex rites (barely summarised here) have many characteristics associated with those of the worship of Dionysos, that Kosti, the place of origin of the refugees, was a centre of Dionysian worship, and that the Bulgarians who practice similar rites (nestinarstvo), read "their" prayers in the Greek language, showing the Greek origins of the custom. Katerina Kakouri has also traced many similarities between these rites and the widespread winter and carnival customs of northern and central Greeks, which also betray many signs of Dionysian origins.

Initially, the refugees carried out their traditional rites in secret, but in 1947 began to walk over the coals in public, causing some mild attempts at repression from the Greek Church. Their rights to preserve their traditional customs were defended and supported by Greek academics and folklorists. Today the ritual is witnessed by many sightseers, and performed in several villages, the most famous of which are Ayia Eleni, near Serres, and Langada, near Thessaloniki.

References

*Danforth, Loring M., "Firewalking and Religious Healing: The Anastenaria of Greece and the American Firewalking Movement," Princeton University Press, (Princeton NJ, 1989)
*Kakouri, Katerina, "Dionysiaka", (Athens, 1965)
*Megas, George A., "Greek Calendar Customs," 3rd ed. (Athens, 1982)
*Nikov, Nikolay. [http://www.promacedonia.org/bg_folklore/en/index.htm Holidays of the Bulgarians in Myths and Legends, 21 may] , (Yambol 2004)
*Tomkinson, John L., [http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=72&la=eng "Festive Greece: A Calendar of Tradition,"] Anagnosis, (Athens, 2003) ISBN 960-87186-7-8
*Wace, A. J. P., "North Greek Festivals and the Worship of Dionysos", "Annual of the British School at Athens, XVI" (1909-10) pp.232-253
*Xygalatas, Dimitris, “Firewalking in the Balkans: High Arousal Rituals and Memory”, in: Ivan Czachesz (ed.), Changing Minds: Religion and Cognition through the Ages, Groningen Studies in Cultural Change Series, Leuven: Peeters forthcoming.
*Xygalatas, Dimitris, “Firewalking and the Brain: The Physiology of High-Arousal Rituals”, in: Joseph Bulbulia, Richard Sosis, Erica Harris, Russell Genet, Cheryl Genet, and Karen Wyman (eds.) Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critiques, Santa Margarita, CA: Collins Foundation Press 2007, pp. 189-195.
*Xygalatas, Dimitris, “Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion”, in the Greek Translation of Harvey Whitehouse, Modes of Religiosity (Greek title: Τύποι Θρησκευτικότητας, Θεσσαλονίκη: Βάνιας 2006), pp. 9-92.

External links

* [http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=143&la=eng The Anastenaria: The Ancient Ecstatic Fire-Walking Ritual of Greece]