| BELIEFS OF MODERN GREECE: A TRANSLATION OF LEO ALLATIUS’ DE GRAECORUM HODIE QUORUNDAM OPINATIONIBUS |
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| Title Page I II III IV V VI VII VIII XIX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI Addenda |
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Concerning the Callicantzarus, people have many proverbs. If they see someone always wearing the same clothes, they say, ‘Put on something new for the Callicantzari.’ You must indeed wear some new outfit, so that if you run into a Callicantzarus you do not have any torn or limp clothes on: if not for any other reason, at least you can defend yourself from the Callpicantzarus. Also, if they see someone crazy, they say, ‘You are coming down from Tripotamata: are not you going to Tripotamata?’ Tripotamata is a place on the island of Chios, wooded and inaccessible, barred to anyone, but shuddering with crowds of fearsome ghosts. Here they say that these Callicantzari gather and loiter, and do what is in their nature to do. Thus, they send anyone who is awkward, insane, or out of his mind to people of a similar disposition, and say that dimwits come from that place. To keep them from running into the Callicantzari, many folks drag their children, the ones born on Christmas day, by their feet to a bonfire in the town square. Carrying them in their arms and holding their heels firmly, they turn the soles of their feet towards the fires. These they allow to burn a little, until the infant, partly scorched by the fire, cries out and, with tears and screams, obtains the mercy of those who hold him. Then they anoint him with oil and apply a cure which they themselves know. For they think that [the infant’s] nails are trimmed and burnt off by the heat of the fire, and that once these have been eliminated, a Callicantzarus can no longer be invulnerable to weapons. |
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