On the way to the opening ceremony 2023 Elefsis – European Capital of Culture, a woman is dancing in front of an old building. On its facade is a quote from the American poet Walt Whitman: “Again in Eleusis, in the homeland of Demeter, I see modern Greeks dancing.” It was written in the 19th century, but last Saturday the “modern Greeks” danced: in the procession of the ethnic clubs of Elefsina, with blond nymphs suddenly appearing among passers-by, at a party with Greek and foreign DJs of electronic music, for the first time in many years listening to the legendary live Stereo Nova.

Eleusis, as noted by many official Saturday guests, is a city full of contrasts. “Holy city in ancient times, industrialized in the 20th century, anarchically abused by violent development,” said the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, “Eleutsina nevertheless preserves a mysteriously fruitful and poetic experience of the coexistence of an ancient religion with Christianity, an idyllic attic landscape with an industrial vandalism.” The contrasts of the smallest city ever to host the establishment of a Capital of Culture, according to former French Minister of Culture Jack Lang, were magnified.

The Belgians of Time Circus, who traveled 3,000 kilometers in nine months to reach Eleusis, dragging a huge cart with their bodies, commented on climate change, in contrast to the smoke and flames of oil refineries. The road to the concert at the old IRIS factory is paved with music. The orchestra plays “Children of Piraeus”. The Pontic lyre accompanies a fragment of the narrative from the “Efuga” by Yolanda Markopoulou. A female choir sings from the shutters in an island dialect. Members of the Utopias dance academy perform Kazantzidis’ Don’t Call Me Stelio with their body and voice on the balcony. “Saturday Night” sounds below, and the house becomes a canvas for the projection of his lyrics: “We are both selfish, everything is black, death is sweet, life is beautiful.” Kanellopulu Avenue, wet from the rain and illuminated in red, is reminiscent of something from the Red Light District, or a retro chronicle of Christmas, and the Stereo Nova concert, the New Year, marking the first day of the ancient city’s new identity.

However, at the basis of the greatest contrast lies the central manifestation: the Upper and Lower Worlds. After waiting in the February cold on the coastal front, the implementation of the capture of the general artistic director Michael Marmarinos, staged by British director Chris Baldwin, began. Boats and ships sailed out to sea with musicians from the Athens State Orchestra performing original works by Angelos Triantafyllos. The trombone emerges from the sea. Soon, a whale sea creature appears with the help of a crane. Lights up white, yellow, red. Ancient Greek figures, the faces of Eleusis, moments of his history appear in her womb to the sounds of “100 choirs” under the artistic direction of Marina Satti. “Persephone,” they sing. “To get to the Underworld,” says narrator Evangelos Lyggos (added at the last minute after the removal of Kostas Nizamis, who was a Golden Dawn parliamentary candidate in 2019), “you have to go through the water.” Dozens of rays of light create roads in the sky. The torch goes out before reaching the sea, now only trombones, horns from ships, applause are heard.

Leaving, later, from the Stereo Nova concert – “Light is my little traveler, take this complaint, with your eyes let me live a moment, a journey on earth”, they sing and it seems that it is Yelevsina herself who says – the child came from her low house. He plays the accordion. Someone is looking for food in the garbage. Of all the mysteries of the Sabbath, one stands out the most. If Eleusis, the birthplace of Aeschylus, the site of the most important mystical ceremony of antiquity, can turn into something more than a memory or a disturbing scene. And if, when Henry Miller wrote that “Eleusis is alive. He lives forever, in a dying world – after all, he was right.