"Clean Monday" Kaina Camel Festival

Clean Monday is the beginning of Lent in the Orthodox calendar and there are many traditions associated with it. This year I attended the Kaina "Camel Festival"
The Camel festival in Kaina is unique and comes from the depths of  centuries. All the residents of the village start the preparations for the construction of the camel and the "smudge" very early in the morning. 

About 8am the preparations begin. The children gather together  help each other to make our costumes. The adults are involved in the construction of the camel, having gathered the necessary materials from the previous day. Around 10am they begin the construction.
The Camel is a Dionysian and first appeared in the 19th century. The camel is made with a wooden frame, two baskets which make the two humps of a camel, one paletsa (type of nylon fabric used for the collection of olives) and the skeleton of the head of a donkey. Inside the skull is placed a spool to snap his mouth by  pulling  on a rope. The eyes are made with two mandarin oranges painted and coated with rabbit skins. In camel are usually three people. One looks after the head fixed on a pole, and the other two make the camel walk.

The camel starts to walk from one end of the village to the other going around the and all the observers who have gathered there.  If you do not dodge out of the way you are "smudged" with soot or boot polish. ( Rather like the chimney sweep tradition in England) The residents of all ages, dressed in unique improvised costumes,  follow the camel and start the  revelry. The celebration continues until early evening to the accompaniment of traditional musical instruments. All attendees have the opportunity to taste traditional meatless dishes and plenty of wine.

The camel reaches the plateia

Mater of ceremonies - very pagan!




The second camel arrives



Two "beasts" are yoked together to pull the plough while seeds are scattered.



Smudges on the faces of the passers by


Ploughing



The "Bride" carries the Groom ( The groom has a large phallic symbol attached to his trousers)


The "Bride" looking radiant in "her" dress - dispute the beard!


The Mayor joins in with the dancing



All the villagers join in - to the very smallest


Comments

  1. Cora GreenhillMarch 31, 2015 at 3:48 AM

    Fantastic to see these, Helen - I'd never heard about it before!

    ReplyDelete

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