SPE
SECTION FOR HONGKON
FIRE WALKERS
THE glowing embers of a giant bon-
:
fire are raked out to make a fiery
Barefoot
across
burning embers...
By Henry Lewis
square. A drum throbs insistently. A three-string lyre wails. And on to the turning charcoal dance a proces- sion of people bare- in the village of Avia Eleni (St footed.
It happens every year in one of a number of villages in Macedonia, Greece. On the feast of Saints Constan- tine and Helen, the founders of Constantinople, villagers walk on fire, clutching icons. the ornately decorated paint- ings of the Holy Family and
saints that are venerated as sacred by the Greek Orthodox Church.
And yet they are never burn- ed. It is a mystery that has in- trigued tourists. doctors and priests for years.
Unbelievable
Helen's).
The Day is like a Bank Holi- day. The roads in are as busy as the Brighton-road-but with ox-carts and cyclists instead of cars and scooters. The village square, where". the firewalking will take place. is roped off Families pienie around the arena. A band plays. A touring
theatre in a tent.
theatrical company sets up *3
In the streets there are stalls
selling mast peanuts, ice cream and pieces of cooked meat on
wooden skewers.
The fire dance is not a quick affair-there are many prepara-
that it is this
tions before the highlight of the day. The anastenarides, the re ligious group to which the fire walkers balong. start the day No one is quite sure how the with the sacrifice of a lamb. custom started but a legend has They believe it that back in the earliest days sacrifice that gives them super- of the Church
dance over when a village human power to chapel caught fire the peasants the burning embers. After the ran over the blazing wooden sacrifice the lamb is cut into 192 floor to save the icons and pieces, one for every home in the were not burned. The modern village. ! ceremony is a re-enactment of that event.
The anastenarides then gather in the home of their chief, the oldest among them. An upstairs room of his home has been turn- ed into a chapel.
The icons from and konaki.
churches of the villages taking pars have been placed there.
There's nothing special or un- usual about today's fire-walkers as far as anyone can see. They are ordinary folk-farmers landworkers and their wives
and children.
But every year crowds go to watch the unbelievable tacle: This year it took
A man with leads
a candle
tome the lyre the way, then
player and drummer. Then
the firewalkers -half a dozen to a dozen of them-and the
rest of the
anastenarides, dancing. jeg ging. holding up the icons and silver crosses,
They sway and dance about the fire. stamping. singing. The drum beats grow,
more
urgent.
Tourists
assume that is due to a
They sway and dence across the bed of seuring embers
protect their feet has been ruled out by investigators because the firewalkers are Rever out of right of the crowd all day.
their immunity sighing, One can only
their eine cameras whirring.
start variety of factors like temper Whatever you think, just re-
ture of the fire, spoed of their member
that photographer- Then the chief dashes on to walking, size the glowing charcoal - dancing taken icgether.
of the fire, all and don't put your theory to right across it. five steps to the,
the test! other side, holding aloft icon. A woman follows. The rest are 'close behind. comé barefoot, some women in stock- ings.
They dance across and back again, backwards and forwards on the cinders. A schoolboy flings off socks and shoes and joins them.
19
No chemicals
For 25 called the
minutes they dance in and out in a 400-degree F. cught to sear the heat which skin from their fest and singe their hands and char' their clothes. But it doesn't.
the
And .the
Now the music begins on anasten- drum and lyre: The spec-
They go back to the church place arides pick up the icons by
their silver handles and begin and replace the icons and then to dance. .shuffling steps, go on to a feast.. stamping their feet and heaving tourists are left marvelling, for the sighs and groans from which the dancer's feet are unmarked. comes their name, the groaners (Angstenazo in Greek means 1 sigh).
The 17-21
Club's
five rules
Someone says: "It must be something to do with the fire. I expect anybody could do it"
of He is told
the photo-
10
He took off his shoes and socks, the fire and was away with agonising
The stomping and singing are
the not unlike
dancing of grapher who said that last year. African natives. But the men are in shirt sleeves and thick ran on black
serge - trousers, the carried women nearly all in sombre burns. church-going · black.
Scorching heat
Membership in the 17-21 Club is open to all within that age group. Contributions and all ac-Greek farmers. tivities of the Club will be limited to members only.
a
What is the secret? It has
peas- been suggested that the ants feet, hardened by working barefoot in the fields, are so tough and thick-skinned they They dance perhaps 15 minutes at a time.
cannot feel pain, that the day's While they dancing has toughened them dance they are far away, as still more by the time they go though in a trance. When they on to the fire. stop they become again normal It has been suggested that they dance themselves into а The chief gives.
signal. trance, a state in which they Down-the stairs they go, danc- ing all the way to the
cannot feel pain. church where the priest
This is possible. But it does dips a sprig not explain why their feet of the herb besil into holy not burnt. Nor does it explain Contributions may consist | water and sprinkles their fore- why the women's stockings do of anything that is heads with the sign of the not burn. For they don't.
Cross. Back then to the konaki, publishable articles,
still dancing. letters, stories, photo- The crowd around the pyre graphs, drawings, verses.in the square is solid now. But only the best will Presently a message comes to the square from the chief: be printed.
"Light the fire." The logs blaze The crowd struggles back from the heat. It burns for one and a half hours. It is now dusk and the embers glow red
All contributions MUST up. be original.
Written contributiona as villagers rake them out into should not consist of a bed an inch or two thick and more than 350 words, 10ft. across. photographs and drow- ings will only be accept ed in black-and-white.
MEMBERSHIP
Fill this in and send it to the China Mail, 1-3 Wyndham Street, Hongkong.
Name
Age Occupation Address
Waves of heat come from it
scorching the faces of the front row of spectators. Then the cry goes up: "They.come!"
MEET THE
MEMBERS!
ALFRED CHIU, 18, student, 42 Gillies-ave., 3rd floor, Rear part, Kowloon.
ANNA CHAN, 19, ap- prentice, 490 Robinson. road, 2nd floor, Hongkong.
The
use of
chemicals
is your name Sadler?
are
SADLER WAS A BOY WHO GOT RIGHT DOWN TO THE SEAT OF THINGS. HIS OLD ENGLISH NAME MEANS *ONE WHO DEALT IN, OR MADE, SADDLES.”
C1959 ISS
2 แม
to
HA
17-21-
CLUB MAILBOX
AVING read with much surprise the article, "Midnight Miracle," "purported to have been written by mit, published in your 17 to 21 Club's section last Saturday, I feel thit in all l fairness to the real author or authoress who wrote so trilliantly
whole affair. (one wonders at its originality), I must disclaim eredit for the
Not only did I not write that article, but I am not even a member of this Club.
I shall be obliged if you will publish this letter in the hope that the party responsible will stop sending future articles under my name. —, VIRGINIA F. COLLACO, Kowloon,
•
•
*
favour
I hope you will grant me the favour by allowing my letter to appear in your 'Mailbox.
The insinuation forwarded by (Mr Anonymous, - concerning HK teenagers, was indeed far too inaccurate, so contemptuous and farcical as not to harbour for himself open attacks of the fiercest kind without the filmsiest ground-of defence. And also, by! offering such remarks he is liable to make himself vulnerable to attacks from one and every HK teenager.
As see, it, I think' Mr Anonymous has an axe to grind. Perhaps, he thought, by alleging and accusing the gegerai mass of - HK teenagers, he would not feel so sheepish when he had teen credited himself before, and in all probability he will be crecited himself in the near future the title of a moron.'
Or is it that Mr Anonymous was too much prejudiced against HK teenagers that he just sent in his remarks without the slightest thought of the aftermath, which inevitably would follow? It is so, Mr John Leung serves him right.
As far as my views are concerned, I do sometimes think that the majority of HK teenagers-especially the better off partien—. are too engrossed in hit, songs, hit parades and like matters to te conscious, or in fact, to be keenly interested in the worldly affairs:
and unsolved enigmas around them.
This, I think, will certainly meet many others' agreements, and as a matter of fact, I do think it holds more than a shred of truth. To conclude this letter, with all my sincerity and good wishes, I hope Mr Anonymous would not be too liberal In his execution of words, in fact, in his offensive and Impertinent thoughts too esten and if possible net at all, or otherwise he will learn the facts of tife the hard way.
And furthermore there is no intention whataceyer to veto the 'Freedom of Speech' on my part-Iqbal Hoosen, Hoag- kong:
Α
FTER having read my learned speaker, Mr John Leung's opinion on the subject, I think I should also voice my opisien on the matter.
In my opinion, Mr Anonymous is perfectly right in saying that 99 per cent of HL. teenagers would be dumb on any subject besides Elvis, movies, movie-stars or show business, and If they think they are not and that the word Moron is not correctly used to describe them, then let all those who oppose Mr Anonymous and' myself answer these questions on World War II. - I think not more than 1 per cent of the members of the ́e'ub will get anywhere near the mark, for they are far too busy with tripe than in reading_profitable books, and I certainly agree that they should be called Morons.
The questions- sres
What were the-Kamikazes of Japan?
The American flyers who helped China agzfuit - Jayan before the Americans entered the war were known zg what?
Who made the famous speech mentioning “Blood, ts, tears and swÜZÜ”?,
On the other hand, if I were to ask any HK teenager questions on movies etc., 99 per cent will jump up with the correct ·
auswers.
Why? because they prefer, once again, I repeat, those chea novels on movies and show business. The teenagers of today have no time to read ́profitable and knowledgable books, for they don't get free from those tripes. So, Mr Leung, Er Anonymous is ́p- fectly correct in ezing them MORONS!
Mr Anonymous is perfectly correct in also saying that 99 per cent of the HK. teenagers would be called "belongers"-Ter the merumio teenagers go to sch an extent that they copy ter ́- Keď flashy-shirts with exen favourites in every walk of life. necks, jeans; big shiebrins 'and even copy the way their favor:Be talks-care to come with the and I will prove you all thê?
(Continued on Page 3)
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