General
Astromeritis is a village in the district of Nicosia. Its altitude is 160 meters in the plain of Mesaoria or plain of Morfou as it is also known. It is 30 km far from the capital of the island. Some of the vicinal villages are Peristerona, Potami and the occupied villages Zodia and Katokopia. The village appears in the Venetian maps as Astromoriti and it was a feud during the Franks occupation.
The inhabitants of the village are 4.500. It grew bigger after the Turkish invasion. The most of the inhabitants are farmers but many others work in the capital. The factory SEDIGEP (ΣΕΔΥΓΕΠ) is responsible for the packaging and the manufacture of agricultural products and has contributed to the agricultural development not only of the village but also of the entire area. There is also a factory that manufactures clothes. These factories have helped many inhabitants of the village who worked there. The main agricultural products are grain, potatoes, citrus fruits, melons and water melons (during summer). In the village you can find all kind of magazines: gas stations, shopes with clothes, supermarkets…
The elementary school of Astromeritis has 220 students and 18 teachers. There is also a pre-elementary class. For more information about the education in the community, please visit the link “Education” in our site.
In the center of the village and on a small hill you can see the church of saint Afxivios. For more information about the church and the life of saint Afxivios, please visit the “Church”.
Every year there is a protest march of Morfou. This protest march aims to remind the Turks our opposition to this occupation and of course our will and demand to go back to our villages. From the village Astromeritis one can see the illegitimately occupied land of Cyprus which is waiting for so long its owners to come back.
Architecture
The first settlement of Astromeritis is consisted of adobe made houses and stone made roads. Around the main entrance of the houses you can usually find sculpted frames. There are also some very interesting old houses with the “dichoro” (two roomed bedroom), traditional kitchen (which was independent from the other rooms), paved yard with beautiful flowers, barn stable, traditional mud oven and all of them with high walls around the houses.
Recently the village has started to expand to the new road of Troodos –Astromeritis. In this location of the village there are mainly new houses. On the west side of the village there are two settlements built for the refugees of 1974. there is a total of 76 houses.
Location
The location of the village is very important. It connects Nicosia, Morfou, Tilliria, Solia, Marathasa, Troodos.
Name
There are many different version concerning the name of the community. Below we will mention some of them.
The first version says that “Asinaioi” left their town “Asina” in Peloponisos and founded the small town “Asinou” in Cyprus. Near the town “Asina” there is another village “Astromeri” and the town “Astros”. Some of the inhabitants of Astros came in Cyprus with the inhabitants of Asina and founded the village Astromeritis.
Another version says that Astromeritis got its name from the inhabitants of Pitsilia who begun from their village and reached Astromeritis when the first star (astro)appeared in the sky.
The third version says that the village was named Astromeritis because of a story that took place many years
Name
There are many different version concerning the name of the community. Below we will mention some of them.
The first version says that “Asinaioi” left their town “Asina” in Peloponisos and founded the small town “Asinou” in Cyprus. Near the town “Asina” there is another village “Astromeri” and the town “Astros”. Some of the inhabitants of Astros came in Cyprus with the inhabitants of Asina and founded the village Astromeritis.
Another version says that Astromeritis got its name from the inhabitants of Pitsilia who begun from their village and reached Astromeritis when the first star (astro)appeared in the sky.
The third version says that the village was named Astromeritis because of a story that took place many years
Toponyms
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"Astraioi"
One of the best jokes for the inhabitants of the village is related to the story that we have just mentioned above:
The villagers went to the well and thought that they saw stars in it.
They then tried to take them out by throwing a hook in the well. Unfortunately the hook was caught on the bottom of the well, and all of the together started to pull it until they all fell down facing the sky! They saw the stars in the sky and thought that the stars which were in the well got away and went on the sky again! The next days, all the surrounding villages learned about this story and made fun of the villagers!
Forms of Struggle
