FOR VISITORS GOING TO KYTHERA IN AUGUST ...

FOR VISITORS GOING TO KYTHERA IN AUGUST ... by  Stephen Trifyllis

For all those who will be in kythera late august , there is a church service that perhaps many of you dont know about , the church services are held at . PALIOCHORA... in a very old church called '' e kerrea tou fouro '' [ lady of the tax ] unusual name for a church but thats another story , the services that are held there are the memorial services for the 9 days of the falling asleep of the mary .... after the main services  at myrtithia on the 15th august  , they are held in perhaps one of the most significent fotress's on the island ... paliochora.... a place of dwellings  with animals  , crops,water wells, it was an entire community   for kytherians some 600 years ago to protect themselves from the turkish pirates that attacked  kythera and other parts of greece ,for many of us its the place where we have our family beginnings , after the pirate era period ceased , the people that survived the Turkish pirates,   left the fort of agios dimitrios  as it was called and set up villages such as  potamos ,trifyllianika  melitianika, logothatianika , aroniathika  and surrounding  villages north and to  the centre of the island ..... these church services have been held in late august every year in paliochora for hundreds of years in the same church which is in remarkable good condition , a resident from trifyllianika told me when he was a young boy, at last years service he could remember 30 to 40 donkeys parked outside the church as  that's how people travelled around the island ,  but unfortunently as the years go by the attendaces have been getting smaller and smaller ,!! it is now up to this current geneartion of the island vistotrs to attend so as not for this special day of worship not to completely disappear , it would be a shame for these services to cease , as our ancestors would have gone to these services, as i keep saying, kythera is not only for, sitting in platias gossiping , drinking coffees , going to beach parties , making movies , going to bars and drinking the night away , we must protect the culture of our island as much as possible for future generations  , and you dont have to be religious to attend although they are very moving ceremonies ,  everyone is welcomed, non Greeks , people that are holidaying in kythera from Athens and other places of Greece , this is the real historic kythera .., it is also a great opportunity to explore the magnificent fortress, the other churches and ruins of this spectacular fortess of kythera ...if you havent been to paliochora this is a perfect way of seeing kytherian history and help save a wonderful church service , after the morning service ,  coffee and the best kytherian sweets are served outside the church and people can mingle and meet new people from kythera and other countries and discover more about the island .....PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CULTURE  AND VALUES OF OUR BELOVED ISLAND !!  ... and honour our past and protect the  future  , our ancestors attended these smaller type church services in the various villages around the island !!!  respect and never forget the way they lived  and leaving their families to migrate to other countries   ......dates for the paliochora 9 days mary services are .... the evening of the 23rd august around 7pm.... and the morning service on the 24th august commencing around 8am .... if you neeed more information i will be in kythera mid July to early September... my Greek mobile number is 6984778201 or my Australian number is... 0412 729927 .... ... ... there are two ways of getting to paliochora, you can walk the marked track from trifyllianika, which starts next to the little church [agios jannis ]  in the square of the village , which takes about 40 minutes  .. that's how it was done in the old days by foot and donkeys.... or these days you can drive on a good sealed and dirt road to the fortress, look for the signs on the main road between the village of potamos and just before the village of aroniathika ....please try to attend one of these wonderful services in a magic place of the island .. i look forward to meeting all that attend .. would be nice to see current committee members from the kytherian associations... of new south wales, Queensland  and Canberra, there are lots of you on the island during that period and  you should attend this event after all you are the main promoters of the island in Australia and you all should attend one of the services ... xpona polla ....

please note .... wear a hat , flat shoes , sport type shoes , no open shoes . bring water as it is a very hot period of the summer ,once you have reached paliochora by the road way, there is a small track leading down to the church so please wear the suitable  foot wear .....and a special thank you to our good friends at SUMMER EDITION   for sponsoring and promoting this kytherian event .. thank you ... .... see you in church !!