First: good news. The boy downstairs is back after 2.5 weeks, and has turned off his dripping tap. Yah! Our lovely neighbours saved us from the tea shortage, and more supplies are on their way from sympathetic friends, thank you! And now, before things get rough, here’s one of Neil’s images of spring on Symi.
And onto business.
In today’s round of ‘Things you might not have seen’, we celebrate the annual tradition of “Αυτά τα καταραμένα βήματα!” Or, as we might say via literal translation, “Those pesky steps.”
Established, it is thought, in the twelfth century, the tradition involves carrying several hundredweight of weighted bags to the top of the Kali Strata, and was originally part of a young man’s rite of passage from annoying youth to hard-working contributor to society. There are no rules to this round of life’s game show; the weight of the world can be carried to the village square by any legal means. Legally licensed and driven transport was nigh on impossible to find on Symi until the recent influx of dedicated traffic police, so only manual modes are now available.
[Interestingly, the shift in culture brought about by someone finally imposing motorbike safety laws on the island has led to a shift in fashion. One sees the most unlikely of folk wearing crash helmets these days, though I have yet to see the mayor with one. This ancient island law is called “Φόρα κράνος, ηλίθιε” which, again in rough translation, is the law of ‘Wear a helmet, you idiot.’ First established for the safety of children who can drive machines at 14, it is still widely flaunted despite the mandatory €350 fine.]
Contestants of the quest, therefore, are not allowed to transport the weight by road vehicle. Aye, for in the 12th century, there was no such thing as a road. In fact, there wasn’t one for much of the 20th. Over the passing of time, various other methods for completing the challenge have been devised. One popular method was “The Yiayia”, and you can read about this in a compilation of travel writings called… (Sorry, I thought the book was over there on my shelves, but it’s found its way back into storage, and as it’s 05.52 and the house is asleep, I am not going rummaging around in the attic). The book is called ‘Traveller’s Tales’ or something, and in it, the author compiles writings by travellers to Greece dating right back to before the tradition of “Αυτά τα καταραμένα βήματα!” In one story from Symi, he recounts how his trunk was brought up from the harbour to the village by a yiayia (a grandmother), who carried it on her back. Thus, appeared one technique.
The second was to use a mule, commonly called a donkey by mistake, and once to be found in abundance. Sadly, now, the mule train is a rare sight for one reason or another. These beasts of burden were once used to transport the traditional weight, and the weight of men, women and other luggage — not that women are luggage, sorry, I don’t edit the clumsy writing on these posts — to the top and elsewhere.
Now, though, foreign labour is brought in even to honour this, the noblest of island traditions, and these foreign contestants are called “Tourists.”
So, this year, when you arrive on Symi again or for the first time, before you set off to your beach with your gold credit card ready to pay for sunbed hire, you will be required to join in the tradition and earn your rite of package-passage by transporting at least one of these weights to the summit.
Just so you know: Each one can be exchanged for an hour’s sunbed hire on a beach of your choice, as long as you carry it there. They are waiting for you, but it’s first-come, first-served.
