Free Roumeli by Patrick Leigh Fermor Page A

proverbs and a saving resilience
Same tendencies considerably reduced, corrected by comforts of philosophy
40
Fondness for leventeiá , i.e. the dash and fire of youth, a cheerful temperament, courage, speed, quick reactions, good looks, skill in singing, dancing, marksmanship, capacity for wine drinking and fun, often accompanied by meraklidilíki , its sartorial expression
An acknowledgement of the characteristic with a distinctly more restrained and sober approach
41
Importance of philotimo , “honour-love,” i.e. honourable conduct between humans, in chaos of Romiosyne , and, above all, private amour propre , like the Spanish pundonor , or personal dignity. It is wounds to this—“he touched my philotimo ”—which must often lead to 37
Honour regarded as a precious legacy from the ancient Greeks
42
Bessa: a word of Albanian origin, meaning the inviolability of an oath, especially in guerrilla warfare. The opposite of treachery
Probably the same as above
43
Settling the world’s problems over endless cups of Turkish coffee in cafés
Settling the world’s problems over endless cups of Turkish coffee in cafés
44
Fondness for cards, backgammon, etc.
The same
45
Sobriety and frugality relived by dionysiac interludes
Interludes likely to be less dionysiac
46
Addiction to amané songs, i.e. wailing, nasal rather melancholy melopees in oriental minor mode
Violent abhorrence of amané as alien and barbaric survivals
47
Urban addiction to rebétika songs and dances: i.e. Athenian low-life, fatalistic, near-apache hard luck stories, accompanied by special stringed instruments. Supposed to have originated in hashish dens. Complex solitary dances, perhaps from Asia Minor. The choreographic expression of the songs
Distaste, based roughly on the same reasons as the foregoing. Tendency towards Western music
48
Rustic devotion to mountain, island and country dances (usually a chain of dancers led by a solo performer)
Toleration of these as “wholesome” and as part of heroic tradition and folklore and for their possible descent from the ancient Pyrrhic dance
49
Rustic devotion to klephtika or Klepht songs: long, fierce and semi-oriental in style, celebrating mountain warriors’ feats of arms
Toleration of the same in theory if not in practice, as humble mementoes of Hellenism’s triumph over barbarian occupation: “Wholesome”: unlike amané and rebétika
50
Outward disapproval, but secret sympathy, in the distant past, for brigandage and piracy; survivals of a lively and anarchic life
Understandable condem nation of these as stumbling blocks to government and the functioning of a Europeanstate: “ Romaikès douliès ” at their worst
51
Fondness, among the old, for smoking narghilés
Disapproval, for obvious reasons
52
Addiction to the komboloi : amber beads strung together like a rosary, and clicked rhythmically as a nerve-settler, like chain-smoking
Faint disapproval, even if addicted
53
Fondness of a small, raffish minority (urban low-life rebétika world, see 47) for occasional hashish smoking, as accompaniment to singing and dancing
Proper abhorrence of this oriental survival
54
Belief in miraculous properties of certain ikons
Enlightened disbelief
55
Resort, among isolated rustic communities, to magical remedies administered by old women. Retention of many pagan superstitions, practices and beliefs
Scorn of obscurantism, even though magical practices and superstitions are of ancient descent. Trust in medical science
56
Indifference to ethical and mystical content of religion, but semi-pagan attachment to the Orthodox Church as the unifying guardian of Romiosyne in times of trouble
Comparative indifference to ethical and mystical content of religion, but tolerance of Orthodox Church as symbol of Hellenism
57
Strict observance of religious fasts and feast days and instinctive, tribal retentions of many of the external signs of Orthodoxy
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