Each May in the small Greek village of Lagadas, a group of celebrants uphold a three-day tradition that incorporates age-old fire-walking rituals.
The room was dimly lit, illuminated only by a weak yellow light bulb and the flames from the fireplace. A small group of men and women, clutching the holy icons of Greek Orthodox saints, was dancing and twirling around the floor under the sound of the instruments: a Thracian lyre, a gaida, a tambourine. The dancers, surrendering to the music, had their eyes closed.
Everyone sang together:
Constantine the little one, little Constantine, His mother had him, she took care of him while he was very young, A message came for him to go to war, He saddles and horseshoes his horse in the night, He puts silver petals, golden nails and a pearl on the saddle.
Their voices carried outside into the rainy streets. A while later, in a kind of an ecstasy, they began walking barefoot on burning coals.
Each year on May 21, the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. In the small village of Lagadas, about half an hour outside Thessaloniki in northern Greece, the celebrations last for three days and include a spectacular fire-walking ritual called Anastenaria, the word for which derives from the Greek “anastasi,” meaning resurrection.
