Personally, the strong bond amongst family, was something that appealed to me the most, when I first started to try to understand the Cretan people. Sometimes however, and especially in the villages of inland Crete, that same passion, can turn into a very negative trait of Crete and it’s peoples rich, generous, hospitable culture……
After the fatal shooting of 23 year old Manolis Stratakis, in Anogia, by a member of his own family, after an ongoing dispute, the dreaded possibility of a vendetta in Anogia is real. Everyone in the area is living in fear of the continued cycle of bloodshed – but once upon a time – it wasn’t exactly like this, or rather it wasn’t always like this….
Turning back the clock and pointing the compass towards Mylopotamos, one learns from the narratives of the elders of Anogia, that they often needed to look within themselves in difficult times.
Over the years, perhaps going back as much as a century, the hardened populations of the rural and mountain villages of Crete, have witnessed and relived whilst enjoying their morning coffee in the village square, many cases of “fratricide” – it is a word, although I had never heard it before! In this case, the slaying of a brother takes on a broader definition and covers any member of the same “family”.
Killing others that had grown up in the same place, had spent many times socially drinking raki, eating together, sharing times happiness and times of sorrow and with true Cretan emotion, creating and singing “mantinades” all together.
On several occasions, these bonds, be them of blood or just the bond of having been born and raised on the same Crean soil, has not been enough to prevent the surge of the ego, of pride, of honour…that leads to the loss of lives.
The older residents of the villages, recall specific bloody incidents, which make up the “black” pages of the history of their birthplace, never totally foreseen, but nearly always due to disputes over land and animals.
During the 20th century, there have been some 16 cases that are remembered by the villagers of Anogia, all of which, without exaggeration, plunged the entire community into mourning, provided the subject of conversation for some time and split the opinions of the two parties involved, but not for any notably excessive length of time.
Because murder, although not totally strange to the “Anogians”, is something that is “minor” or “insignificant”, in comparison for their determination to maintain the concept which is written into their DNA, of tradition.
And tradition, not written, but spoken, demanded that a solution should be found quickly, in any way and proof of that is that amongst the villagers of Anogia, in the case of a murder, there have never been any deliberate acts of retribution.
In the sixteen cases remembered, the two sides were always able to find a solution – in two cases, the intervention of the in-laws was critical, whilst in the others, the family of the assailant left the village, in order not to provoke ill feelings.
In the case of this newest murder, what will happen, as yet nobody can tell. It’s a complex puzzle as the assailants side is a very large family, all related to the victim and their homes are next door to each other in the village. And until now, whatever efforts had been made to bridge their differences, nothing had succeeded……..
Based on article from the Patris newspaper.