TA AGIA QEOFANIA  
Ta Fota - "Lyset", Epifani,
- stor helligdag 6. januar!
Navnedag til Fotis, Fanos, Fanis, Theofania, Fotini, Fanny og kanskje flere!

Wikipedia; Teofani fra gresk theo, «gud», og phainein, «å vise fram».

I Tom Stone`s Greek Handbook, by Lycabettus Press, stå det, fritt 
oversatt nå;
"I den ortodoxe kirken er dette til minne ikke om den kommende magi men at Jesus ble døpt i Jordan. Så, det sentrale denne dagen er velsignelsen av vannet, et meget viktig ritual for en slik sjøfarende nasjon.
Over hele Hellas, samles prester og sognebarn ved det nærmeste vann (havet, en elv, en innsjø) som presten velsigner og så hiver et hellig kors uti."

Her i byen samles folk utenfor den National Banken rundt 11 og det jeg har sett og fotografert er;
Det kom 3 prester, en liten messe ble holdt, et kors med en lang snor ble kastet i sjøen. 3 gutter, i bare badebukser, hoppet fra en nærliggende båt og en av dem kom opp med korset. Hans lykke er sikker for det kommende året, han blir betraktet som meget, meget heldig!

Jeg mener å tro at dette skjer utover hele Hellas, men det sies at det har vært forsøk på å stoppe dette, fordi deltagerne prøver å knivstikke hverandre under vannet for å vinne!
Men det var ikke mye man 
kunne gjemme i de 
badebuksene jeg så!!!

###

Jeg traff Kosta, ca. 40 år, og jeg spurte ham om han hadde stupt etter korset da han var gutt? Of course, svarte han.
Han fortalte at den gangen var det farlig, og derfor ble det forbudt en tid at gutter skulle stupe inn for å finne korset! Farlig, hvorfor det?
Jo fordi den som fant korset fikk gå med det i paraden sammen med prestene gjennom byen og all gav ham penger! Altså det kunne bli en meget god fortjeneste!
Dette var så viktig at det hendte at det ble slosskamp og knivstikking under vann!

 

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TA AGIA QEOFANIA
Ta Fota - "The Light", Epiphany, - big national holiday 6th of January! Name day of Fotis, Fanos, Fanis, Theofania, Fotini, Fanny and maybe more!

Wikipedia; Teophani from Greek theo "gud", and phainein, "to show".

Tom Stone's Greek Handbooks, by Lycabettus Press, says;
"In the Orthodox Church, this commemorates not the coming of the Magi but the baptism of Christ in the Jordan. Thus, the central event of the day is the blessing of the waters, an extremely important ritual in such a sea-faring nation. All over Greece, priests and parishioners gather by the nearest body of water (the sea, a river, a lake) which the priest blesses and then into which he throws a cross."

Here in town people gathers outside the National Bank around 11 and what I have seen and photographed is; 3 priests came, a small mass was said, one throws the cross, who has a string attached into the sea. 3 boys, in shorts only, jumped from a nearby boat and one of them came up with the cross.  His luck is saved for the rest of the year, he is considered very, very lucky!

I think this happens all over Greece, but they tried to stop it, because the contenders tried to knife stick each other under the water, in order to get rid of the competition! As fare as I saw not much could be hidden in those shorts!!!

###

I met Kostas, ca 40 years old, and asked him if he had jumped in to find the cross when he was a boy?
Of course, he answered.
He told me that on those days it was dangerous, and that's why it was forbidden for a while! Dangerous, why?

'Because the one who found the cross paraded with it together with the priest in town and everybody gave him money. It could be a very good profit! This was so important that it could happen fighting and knifing in the sea!

 

Wikipedia;  
Epiphany appearance or manifestation Christian feast intended to celebrate the "shining forth" or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus. Some Christians commemorate the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus on this day, while others use the day to commemorate the baptism of Jesus as an adult.
It is also called Theophany, especially by those commemorating Christ's baptism.

 Litt gresk-lekse, sorry men feil kan forekomme!
Some Greek words, sorry but it may be some mistakes! 

Med god hjelp av bl.a. Norsk - Gresk, 
Norbhgiko - Ellhniko av Liv Nilsen Garras
Ad Infinitum ISBN 82-92261-06-0

With good help from amongst others;
 LEXIKO AGGLOELLHNIKO kai ELLHNOAGGLIKO ,
EKDOSEIS PELEKANOS AQHNA, ISBN 960-400-128-0

 "A Simplified MODERN GREEK GRAMMAR in English",
by Ioannis A. Ioannides, Paphos, Cyprus 1999
ISBN 9963-8459-8-8

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