I was born in 1941, on the feast day of Sts Anargiri at Kamari and I was registered at the Lefkes community. My mother was from Maltes and my father from Lefkes. I am the seventh child of a family with nine children. Very difficult years. As a child I was always hungry. Food was scarce. Some milk, cheese, bread, some fruit, that was all. At the house we had goats, horses, a mule and chicken. When I was twelve, we had about hundred and sixty goats and cows.
In the years preceding the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, travellers, philhellenes and archaeologists travelling to Paros were aware of the adits at Marathi. The artificial labyrinthine cave system, fascinated foreign travellers as they immersed themselves in the marble riverbed that had once given life to statues of gods and humans.
Usually through books, narrations and visits to museums or archaeological sites. Nevertheless, there are also other sources that we rarely make much of, although they hide significant riches. At Paros, two such sources are the family names and the coats of arms of the old noble families.
The cause. This year’s souma distillation. The occasion. My friend’s invitation to the party accompanying the production process, naturally, as every year. A customary symbolic event. The whole thing refers to rites and rituals. It revives again and again, aiming at the magic power of a circular and infinite repetition. Very similar to the one defining the rules of life.
Van Gogh climbed up to Lefkes this year; Frida Kahlo, Picasso, Magritte, Tsarouchis and other great painters went along. They went to Marpissa, as well. Αnd the pupils of the elementary school got to know them under the guidance of their teachers Chryssa and Areti Katsantoni.
Anyone interested in having a close look at the designs of the coats of arms of Paros should visit the Historical and Folklore Museum of Naoussa, in a small building at the village square.
The panigiri in Paros is the spirit of its people, is a significant event, following each religious holiday, memorial day or moments related to nature and its fruits, the wheat and the grape, the bread and the wine, the sea and the fishermen.
Manolis Charalambous runs a traditional convenience store called “O Diplos” in Parikia, with the help of his sister, Mrs. Koula - an iconic shop, a staple in Paros for more than fifty years, with raving customers from all over the world.
Routes in Marpissa is a festival with a difference, held with the active support of the residents of the beautiful Parian village, who lend a hand in planning the events, turn their homes into visitor-accessible festival spaces, cook and otherwise contribute to the delicious treats offered at the traditional feast.
Paros graviera (Gruyère-type cheese) Paros kefalaki, ladotyri (oil-preserved cheese), krassotyri (wine cheese) and Paros souroto (sour cream cheese), fresh myzithra cheese, clarified butter. The Farmers’ Cooperative Union of Paros is bound to tempt your taste buds.
