First comes the life cycle: birth, childhood, love and marriage, very frequent trips abroad, and finally death. We can say that it is a concentric circle with a circle of time and the alternation of seasons and agricultural activities: plowing, sowing, flowering, summer, harvest, the withering of nature, and again from the very beginning.

At least these are the two great circular trajectories of the Greek – global? – mass culture, and they were mostly always accompanied by symbolic actions and performative actions. In which all members of the community were invited to participate, through a permanent triptych of music, speech and dance.

This is a ritual feature well known to the professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Athens. Lampros Liavasthat is why he emphasizes this, among other things, in the annual series of actions on the theme of traditional rituals in the cycle of life and time, which he himself curates in the context of the institution 2023 – European Capital of Culture Elefsina and which is called simply and clearly: “Sacred Songs”.

“These songs are not for the mere entertainment of society, but they are also associated with sacred acts and will be sung in a certain place and at a certain time,” he tells us and continues: “If they are associated with the cycle of life, they illuminate the path of man from the cradle to of death. If they are connected with the cycle of time, then they have a “homeopathic” character: with their help, people want to call for good and repel evil, as in the case of Dionysian dances and Halloween songs, which are not just “scary”, “but they appeal to fertility.”

These songs, the ethnomusicologist continues, are sung by specific artists. For example, since ancient times, carols have been called “ambivalent children” – who had both parents alive, and later they were called “manokyrudata” children – who had a mother and father alive. “Such symbols are not only Greek, but also universal,” Lambros Liavas adds, “and, as in our own cycle of action, they are often associated with the solstices and equinoxes and with the need to pass from winter death to spring life.” .

“These songs are not meant for the mere entertainment of society, they are also associated with sacred activities and will be performed at a specific place and time,” says Mr. Liavas.

Especially the transition to spring will be celebrated in Eleusis with the event that will take place today from 12:00 at Sinokikismus Square in Pontia and at the former campsite “Oasi”. Having already completed the musical performances for the mourning of the divine and the human and for Greek Halloween, the Sacred Songs cycle continues today with the event “All the Trees Have Opened!…” – Songs and Dances of Greek Easter. With today’s Earth Day, yesterday’s Feast of the Life-Giving Spring, and tomorrow’s Saints George and Thomas, the event will focus on events and songs in which Christian worship meets its ancient origins, Christ converses with Adonis, and Saint George is associated with ancient dragon-slayer heroes. . The program ends with the Pontic custom “sa tafia” and a feast with songs about the earth, spring and Easter.

“The identification of Christ with Adonis is not accidental,” says Mr. Liavas, and explains that Hellenism from ancient times “buries its god in flowers, anticipating his resurrection, which will bring the resurrection of nature, which also connects us with Persephone. . Whereas Saint George, the dragon-slayer hero that exists in many cultures, binds water and eats youth like the Minotaur did.”

Fires of Klydon

The professor can make other symbolic associations and tell, for example, about the role of men and women in rites (where one is associated with sowing, and the other with fruit bearing), about the cleansing fires of Clydon (which will be awarded the next manifestation of the cycle) or for another triptych, a triptych of wine, wheat and oil, which, together with fertility and the “fashions of the sun”, is another landmark of the “Holy Songs”.

One question, of course, is what is happening today. “As much as we claim to be sophisticated, we need the homeopathic nature of the rituals,” Mr. Liavas says, and concludes: “We all have some sort of symbolic act, even if it’s personal—wood-banging, New Year’s gambling, and others— with which we want to ensure good and drive out evil. This is the eternal need of man. Traditional communities have made it more organized and comfortable. When you take an action in general that you think affects the life of the community, it becomes even more powerful. That’s what we’re missing these days.”