Let us look at the folkways of Astromeritis. Unfortunately, most of the folkways no longer exist.
Christmas customs
Before Christmas, housewives start reparations for Christmas.
Preparations include cleaning the house, dusting, shining, arranging furniture, baking rusks, and painting the inner and outer walls white.
They used to mix paint with whitewash, so as to achieve the traditional with colour to the walls.
The village is decorated at the beginning of December. The village square is decorated with a pine tree whilst a big, wooden representation of Christ’s birth is placed outside the offices of the community council.
On Christmas Day, people go to church. After Divine Service, people receive communion, which is known in the Cypriot dialect as “paskazo”. After Mass is over, people exchange wishes.
After church people go home and gather around the table in a happy, family atmosphere to eat chicken and soup or “traxana” soup, which is a traditional dish.
On Hosanna Sunday, the people of Platanistasa used to go to the festival of Elia, namely to the olive festival, which took place at Agios Mamas’s church in Morphou. There, they could buy young pigs and raise them. In the period between Christmas and Epiphany Day people used to butcher the pigs they owned to make bacon, “lountza”, a kind of ham and sausages.
New Year’s customs
On New Year’s Eve, housewives prepare the New Year’s pie and put a coin inside. The pie is eaten on New Year and who ever finds the coin is considered lucky all year round.
On New Year’s Day, people go to church and when the Service is over, they kiss and exchange wishes.
According to old Cypriot customs when people return home from church on the first day of the year, they should enter with their right food so everything will go well during the New Year.
On New Year’s Day people used to play games with cards at their houses or at coffee houses. This custom no longer exists as such.
Epiphany Day
On Epiphany Day’s Eve, namely on the 5th of January, the village’s priest went around all the houses and sprinkled people with holy water. This custom is known as “Kalanta”. He was accompanied by a child who held the container with the holy water. All people would throw some coins in the container, as a gift to the priest and the child.
On Epiphany Day, housewives bring baskets filled with some of the products they produce at the church, for example watermelons, honey melons and citrus fruits, in order for their crop to be blessed. After the Service, they take lit candles back home, so as to bless their home, as that light symbolises the Holy Spirit. Then they baked “kserotiana” which is a kind of doughnut. They used to throw some doughnuts on the houses’ roofs so bugbears, or else “kalikantzaroi”, would eat and leave.
“Sikoses”
In Greek “Sikoses” is the period between the Beginning of carnival on Sunday and the following Sunday that is Shrovetide Sunday. During this period, people used to masquerade and go round their relatives and friends’ houses. They celebrated by making joking and having feasts.
One of the most famous traditional games played is the game with the egg. They used to hang a boiled egg with a thread on the ceiling, above the table and everyone there would spend their time trying to catch it with their mouths.
They would also hang swings “sousa”, in their house. Souses was a traditional game during the Easter holidays. The girls would sit on the sousa and swing, while singing joyful tunes.
On Green Monday, people used to go out in the fields and ate mostly vegetables and no meat. This custom is known as “cutting the nose of Sarakosti”. During this period, people did not stop dealing with their everyday activities.
Let us look at the folkways of Astromeritis. Unfortunately, most of the folkways no longer exist.
Easter customs
Several Days before Easter Sunday housewives clean their houses. They bake rusks and “flaounes”, a traditional Cypriot kind of cheese-bread. On Maundy Thursday, they dye eggs red so they can “chink” them on Easter Sunday. They dye the eggs with a plant called “lizari”, a kind of root that produces a red substance when boiled in water.
Saturday before Passion Week: On this day, two groups of children used to go around houses and chant a song named the “Lazaros”. Housewives gave them money and eggs, so that they could dye them.
Hosanna Sunday: During this day housewives take boughs from olive trees to church to be kept them there until Whit Sunday. The boughs are hallowed and then taken back to people’s houses so that the family is protected by envy and evil.
On Maundy Thursday, the iconostasis is covered with a black cloth as a sigh of mourning. In the evening, a model of the holly cross is placed in church along with a model of Saint John and Virgin Mary on the right and left side of the cross.
Everyone goes to church in order to worship the holly cross and listen to the twelve gospels about the Passion Week as well as Christ’s crucifixion and death.
On Good Friday, in the morning the Sepulchral is decorated with flowers. Young men and women chant the Dirge whilst girls bearing pomades sprinkle pomade, and throw flowers at the Sepulchral. At night, the Sepulchral’s procession takes place around the village. At night, the Sepulchral’s procession takes place around the village and all women rinse the Sepulchral with rosewater.
On Holy Saturday during the morning Mass and when the priest says, “Christ has risen” people make noise with their stools and the black cloth fall off the iconostasis.
Around eleven o’clock in the evening the church bell calls all people to church, to celebrate the most important and joyful Service.
At the church’s parvis, people light a fire known as “Lambratzia”, a kind of bonfire. At twelve o’clock the priest announces, “Christ has risen” and starts with the vicars the litany procession. People light their candles from the Resurrection’s holy light held by the priest. Outside the church people will listen to the Gospels and chant.
After church people go home, “chink” eggs, and wish each other. They note that Christ has risen, by announcing “Christ has risen” and “he has indeed risen”, accordingly. They also eat a soup with chicken and lemon, known as “augolemoni”, or “traxanas” soup and “flaounes”.
On Easter Sunday at ten o’ clock in the morning, the Service of love takes place. After the litany, the icon is worshiped. Then everyone roasts lamb and have a great time eating, drinking, singing and dancing. In the afternoon, the local council organises events at the village’s square and people play traditional games. For instance, egg-rides, bag-rides, donkey rides and many more traditional games.
FESTIVAL OF SAINT AFXIVIOS
A festival takes place near the church dedicated to Saint Afxivios on the 17th of September. The Mass is directed by the eparch of Morphou.