Fire Jumping
Several weeks ago I rented an amazing home in a medieval village in Greece. This house, along with other homes in the walled village, was built in the year 1345. It had been updated, but had no HVAC. With its thick stone walls and cool breeze off the terraced roof, it was perfectly climate-controlled and SO quietly peaceful at night.
One evening I went to the roof to work on my book and watch the sunset, then heard people knocking on the door across from my house, calling out in Greek. Of course, I didn’t understand what they were saying, and I was engrossed in my book, so I paid them no attention.
Sunset, Chios, Greece
A few minutes later my phone rang, the call from a number in Greece that I didn’t recognize.
“Is this Kim?”
“Yes.” (I was wondering how a random Greek person got my phone number - I had only given it to the local caretaker who had given me the house key. This was neither his number nor his voice).
“Please, you must come and move your car, it is an emergency!”
Thinking that someone was hurt and my car was blocking an ambulance, I pulled on long pants, grabbed the car keys, and ran out the door. Running through the narrow alleys to the village square where my car was parked, I had to break through a group of pre-teens who were huddled together on bikes and scooters.
Where did they come from and why were they huddled in an alley when there was an emergency?
When I got to the square, it was full of people, adults and children, with traditional Greek music playing loudly on an outdoor speaker system. I was bewildered. I had never seen even a fraction of these people around the village all week. A man said, “You must move your car, we are having an event with FIRE!”
He waved his arms grandly, as if conjuring an inferno out of thin air.
Immediately, I thought of firebender Zuko, of Avatar: The Last Airbender, fame. Ok, so I watched alot of Nickolodean with my kids when they were growing up. If you haven’t watched the animated series, it is now on Netflix and I highly recommend it.
Firebender Zuko by Ang Hui Qing
Anyway, someone took pity on me (I’m sure I looked dazed), told me where to move my car, and said, “We would like to invite you to watch the event with us, please.” What event?
I then noticed three piles of sand, spaced a few meters apart in a straight line. They were topped with mounds of dried flowers and wreaths, like three big campfires in a row. People were laughing and talking, kids were running around everywhere.
It was a party! Because my knowledge of the Greek language is paltry at best, I had no idea what was going on.
As soon as the sun set, and they lit the fires.
Festival of Klidonas, Chios, Greece
The flames were high and women came and threw more wreaths on the fire. Then a man gave a little speech in Greek, and jumped over the three fires. I could tell that he was showing the children how to jump and encouraging them to try it. Soon a line of children took turns jumping the fires, mostly boys. Then a brave little girl about 8 or 9 years old jumped the fires and the crowd went crazy! That got the little girls really pumped up, and soon there were lots of girls jumping the fire along with the boys. Relatives even jumped with their infants and toddlers who were too small to go it alone.
Photo: Robin Sanders, www.greekreporter.com
When the fires died down, handed out little Good Humor bars with red napkins to everyone in the square. It seemed like the perfect ending to the fire jumping festival.
Later that evening, thanks to Mr. Google, I learned that this was the fire jumping festival that takes place each year on the eve of the feast day of Saint John. The traditions have morphed over time - it was once a fortune-telling ceremony (the Klidonas Festival), then later, a celebration of Saint John, and now I was told that it was an annual ceremony to bless the children and give them courage in the coming year. Whatever the meaning of the celebration, it was a happy and exciting event, and I felt lucky to be a part of it.
Does your family or community have a tradition like the fire jumping festival? I’d love to hear about it!
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