denizaksulu wrote:.
The relationships between the two communities was very cordial. We attended each others weddings, greeted each other at easter or bayrams (moslem festivals). Travelled all over the island to attend Panayiris/ Kataklysmos too.
That says it all . Deniz and I are both 64 years young . Although we did not know each other until we met on the CF we are living proof that our people interacted and lived peacefuly together long before the intercommunal conflicts were ignited. A proof of our mutual respect , understanding and love of our common denominator , the island of Cyprus our mutual motherland.
My earlier recollections of our compatriots , the T/Cs , go back to that dreadful date of September 10th 1953 when my village was destroyed by the earthquake. Amongst the victims the young wife of a T/C policeman who had only just moved to the Stroumbi Police station . No animosity whatsoever existed amongst the villagers who were G/Cs exclusively .
As Deniz said our games as children consisted mostly of PIRILLI - Marbles , Ligri , scatoullika , we would mould using mud the shape of a car that was completely new to us all those years ago .
Village life was concentrated mostly in the kafenia for men and the "outside" of house where women would gather and chat , us kids playing .
There was no electricity or running water , those lucky enough to be the proud owners of a hole in the ground were few most of us just found a quite corner and in the absence of toilet paper a good clean stone was more than suitable !!
Village life was simple , the villagers mostly farmers worked the fields daily and tended to their animals and chickens that provided the almost only meat available as well as the eggs . Goats milk was a valuable product providing us the most popular food the now world famous Halloumi which along with olives , bread , onions , koutchia , fasolia , revithia and other pulses provided our daily intake of food.
Weddings were the highlights of the village starting on Friday and ending on Monday. The entire village would attend the ceremonial procedures starting on Friday with the preparation of Resi which involved laying out on cloths the wheat which had previously been washed and rhythmically pounded using a flat heavy wooden spatula type , whose name I forget , normally by two villagers sitting at opposite ends to the accompaniment of the Violaris !!
The entire process would take hours after which the big cooking pots - kazania - would be placed on open fire and the the Resi would be prepared using the fat of Pork !!!
The Vgioli and Laouto was or rather were the centrepiece of the wedding celebrations , no wedding would go ahead without the Vgiolaris , and of course the bride and groom !!
The event provided an opportunity for the "SKAPOULOS" bachelor boys , to show off their dancing skills and attract the females from around the neighbouring villages attending the wedding.
For us kids it was a very joyous occasion indulging in games and naughtiness as children do although in Stroumbi there lived a man , a giant of a man known throughout the village and surrounding ones as O Patsogiorgis !! Feared by all for his ferocious temper ignited by naughty and loud children , it was as if Patsogiorgis had a licence to discipline unruly children , a sort of a paramilitary policeman that no one dared challenge , and no one complained either, his reputation and integrity " ANTHROPIA " was respected by all , he was my grandmothers brother and was born in Theletra . His oldest ...child died last year aged 94 ..
The criteria of evaluating a familys position in the village was quite simple
either as a landowner but above all it was the integrity and self respect that scored the highest. ANTHROPIA was a jealously guarded virtue without which a man would be at a disadvantage , a mans word was his bond a handshake all that was needed . Alas though innocent villagers would be exploited by the greed of the one family who controlled trade in the village..More later ..
Another highlight was the coming now and then of KARAGIOZI , more of that later...
