When my grandmother from Santorini fell ill with dementia, her childhood was at the very top of the “first drawer” of her memory, from where her stories usually originated. This is how I learned about the rite of harvest on the island, be it grapes or the famous tomatoes. On every island of the Cyclades there were similar sanctuaries and sanctuaries, i.e., heavy duties, which were always combined with feasts and songs to make them appear lighter. Little by little, tourism is absorbing all this, and the local community needs huge forces to preserve something from the past. That is why the spectacle I saw on Saturday morning in Naoussa on the island of Paros, the most historic fishing village in the South Aegean, was extremely touching. The alleys, of course, were full of the Annunciation and the parade, but mainly because since last year the Nayas Marine Club has organized a revival of the salted fish technique.

It was a place where the fishermen were always first, dozens of wooden boats plied all the seas and returned with full nets. Depending on the type, the fish was salted or boiled. It was a fishing duty, predominantly male, as women (neither then nor now) did not want to bother with cleaning and cleaning the house. A week ago, all the fishermen of Naoussa gathered again and showed the world how pasta is made, with the “queen” laserda, the most beautiful appetizer to suma. On the day of the Annunciation, the fish was ready to eat, so a big feast was arranged with food and music, with locals and foreigners. Before I had time to realize what era I was in, Mrs. Zaneta Malamatenou took a lakerda and fed me right in the mouth, like a family member. He then proceeded to explain to me what Naoussa was like, showing me a reproduction of an 1899 photograph.

“Do you see it? It was my grandfather’s boat, it still exists and stands on Samos. Inside this building were barrels of salt. They were so big that in order to get them out, they had to tear down the walls and then rebuild them,” he explained to me. The Naias Association, founded in the 1930s, was also revived 6 years ago and has taken great initiatives from time to time, as its member Tasos Kasapidis, a Macedonian teacher who was assigned to the island in the 1990s and started a family, Tell me. Most impressive; The aisles were kept immaculately clean because the club made sure they had their own metal plates and glasses to be used every time. I left with a full heart and stomach and the thought that pasta even temporarily defeated ceviche …