Christmas 2022, Ermoupolis, Syros. The visitor to the island, getting off the boat and walking along the beach towards the city center, meets the traditional scaris, decorated for the holidays, installed on the embankment as a museum piece of inestimable value. Such is the art of its creator, the Syrian captain and shipbuilder Manolis Georges, able to give a simple sailing vessel a divine quality, as if we live in a world where only masterpieces sail in our seas. Its unsurpassed quality, combined with the cheerful lanterns that pass through its mount, makes the boat a transcendent symbol of the holidays. In the whole picture there is already something appropriate, harmonious. It would be inappropriate to have any other festive installation in the center of the Aegean, except for the traditional “boat”, a custom of our maritime country, traces of which are lost in the mists of time. A custom that in this tribute we will find not only in Syros, but also in another island with great maritime traditions, Chios.

With the help of philologist and researcher Stella Tsiropina, we travel to the northeastern island of the Aegean Sea and shed light on the ancient roots of the custom. We read her in-depth study on Theatricality of Chian Holiday Customs (published by Aegeas, Chios, 2014) and we feel that in the hands of a folklorist/theatricalist there is a thread of millennia stretching back into the past. to the chariot of the Anthesterias, a model of the wheeled ship on which the “epiphany” (“epiphany”) of Dionysus took place. In her research, she finds the first pre-war manifestations of the custom even in places where chiots are scattered. In 1908, the newspaper Pagiaki, published by Chiotes in Cairo, wrote the following: “Near a cafe with blue and white anapeptamens, ten teenagers weigh the ship with the perfection of its components, while at rare intervals the chimney of the ship with its sweet colors of sky and sea leaves a harsh hiss.” This custom had such a strong influence on the Chiots that they took it with them to their villages.

The First Balkan War in 1912 brought to Chios, after 356 years of Turkish occupation, a valuable and much-desired freedom. The “Aegean squadron” with legendary ships such as the battleship “Averof” acquired a mythical status in the minds of people, and thus “war anthems” and a parade of models of warships were born. St. Basil’s small boat, which was originally made of paper or tin, became two meters long and made of sheet metal, smoking chimneys, whistling horns and thundering cannons were added to it. Now a “crew” was needed: a captain for general supervision, a “heater” and a “shooter” – and all of them had to be dressed according to the marine dress code. The boat trip turned into an impromptu theatrical and musical event with a stage on the streets of the city and on the doorstep of the houses of Chios. As Stella Tsiropina charmingly writes in her poem: “The wandering groups of small participants, like some kind of musical troupe, turned the “look” of their ships into the “being” of another reality, just as it happens in a theater convention. “

His tour is an impromptu theatrical and musical event of St. Basil the Blessed.

After the war, the custom fell into decline as television entered every home and sent boats to cellars and warehouses. But there was a renaissance. This time the competitive aspect became more intense and in 1976 the event found a second youth when it became a regular competition in which the prize for the “most beautiful” boat was and still is a strong incentive to participate. Since then, and every year, impressive models of ships, forming a small parade of the fleet, take place in the city center and, together with the “creative” anthems accompanying them, try to win first place. Warships still appear and appear more often than merchant ships. Their particular shipbuilding is a separate subject of interest and study. Some reach up to seven meters in length and are involved in the construction of professional shipbuilders and amateurs.

Returning to Ermoupolis, a beautiful state founded mainly by chiots who took refuge there after the massacre on their island in 1822, we are talking with a man who also immersed himself in the folklore of his region. This is Nikos Solaris, who has been a dance teacher at the Greek High School of Syros for the last 44 years and recently published a study on Music and Dance Traditions of Syros. According to him, the New Year’s boats were – like on Chios – our legendary warships, while, as he tells us: “Two or three months before the New Year, a crew was made up, in which there were from ten to fifteen people: four who lifted the boat, four spares, two or three retaining buruds (cut at the end of the shell that functioned as wind horns), two or three orchestras, a treasurer and an owner (karavokiris) The orchestra consisted of one or two pipers and a tubi, and the treasurer was always a confidant of the owner and kept a big lawn box where the money was collected.The boat went to Ermoupoli on New Year’s Eve and on the first day of the New Year, and there were years when two boats left.

The procession started from Lazarette and passed through all the houses of Syros, while the team sang, played music and collected tips. As on Chios, the same impromptu theatrical performance took place on Syros, with the warship having the same characteristics in both places. According to I. Solaris: “The Elli model (which, by the way, was produced in Syros from 1948 to 1958) had a gun filled with gunpowder, and in the central parts of Ermoupolis the guns were also loaded. “

As the years passed, the custom also withered, and a revival took place at the initiative of I. Solaris and with the help of Mr. Mavrikos (historical Syrian shipyard), as well as Neorios Syros, when a new boat called “Averof” was built. built and completed their round-the-world voyage, as before, on New Year’s Eve 1992. The legendary battleship Averof, which in another version “competed” last year with a model of impressive technology on Chios, and which in another, the old version accompanied the New Year carols of the Navy of the 1970s. This is reported to us by the retired master and illustrator Gisis Papageorgiou, accompanying his story with a greeting card for the New Year 1978, which he created in his time with the help of his design abilities. “The picture shows my children, who were then nine years old, with the Averof model in their hands, which belonged to the P.N. who took him caroling officials, “- while he adds with his well-known humor:” This “Averof” was made of … foam and in poor condition, so I was called for its overhaul. and tank with my brushes!”.

Returning to Ermoupolis, we meet another decorated boat – a model of Manolis Georges – this time standing refreshingly in front of the city hospital, and in the Greek Lyceum we find a high-tech model of the destroyer “Storm” in Agios. Nikolaos is a wonderful Shakturi, and the Merchant Navy School has an Ellie model. At the same time, in the vicinity of Chios, looking forward to New Year’s Eve, a festive sea battle of impressions is being enthusiastically prepared – among the small miracles of microshipping.