They may have moved from Velouhi to various corners of Athens and the big cities, they may have decorated with the fir tops they have moved, various corners mainly in Attica, but they are thinking of going back to their villages as they see that the crisis has still affected and the festive habits of consumers.

“This year we cut less fir trees. Half of them are on the market since last year,” he told APE-MPE Thanasis Antoniou who has been maintaining for years a large plantation in Pitsi of Sperchiada in Fthiotida.

Having grown up in the fir groves himself, he undertook to grow them. It starts with seed in nurseries that remains a small plant for about 3 years and then transplanting begins. Over 10 or 12 years they are nurtured to reach a size that could decorate a house at Christmas.

“Unfortunately, natural fir, as a luxury species, is gradually disappearing. It is disappearing both as a custom and as a choice,” says Thanasis Antoniou to APE-MPE. “Demand is constantly falling. Every year markets either shrink or disappear. We see a huge difference in the last 3-4 years and in fact this year half of the firs were cut from those we cut 4 years ago since they are not going to the market”.

These days the villages that are on the outskirts of Velouchi have been emptied. Most of the residents have moved to the urban centers along with the firs, trying to sell them. For them, it is, together with the tsipouro, the only income to make ends meet.

“The expenses are huge” notes the Mimis Alexiou from Merkada who inherited the cultivation and disposal of fir trees from his father Petros Alexiou” who, as he says, “opened the markets in those years”

“It used to be different. Traders and interested parties came to find us. Now we are running to find markets” he says to APE BEE. He and his people have “moved” to Alimos in Athens as there for the last 7 years they have made their home with Christmas trees, having literally decorated a block and waiting to sell them.

As Mimis Alexiou characteristically tells APE-MPE “40 years ago the Municipality of Alimos discovered us in our villages and sent a truck every Christmas to load fir trees for the decoration of the town”. This led them in 2017 to create their own hangout every Christmas in Alimos to dispose of the firs.

“Nothing happens by itself. Each fir has trouble, effort and huge expenses. To get it from a seed to a tree and sell it to support the family has a lot of expenses. A lot of daily wages” notes Mimis Alexiou, emphasizing at the same time that “the costs for logging and transportation have increased excessively”.

They themselves are in the fields from the middle of November when they start cutting the firs, tending them and start the preparations for the big cities.

“We all experience the stress of the next day. The product that we sow and cultivate for many years can no longer give us the income to spend the rest of the time” says Thanasis Antoniou to add: “Our villages used to keep some forest workers who for a large part of the year deal with the care of the estates. Every day they “caress” the fir trees from small to large. Now they are looking to move.” “Those who live today will also leave some villages. There will be no one left” Thanasis Antoniou meaningfully notes.

The custom that supported many families in the mountain villages of Fthiotida, the custom of the natural fir tree in the Christmas house is slowly disappearing. Many of the firs that are cut since they are not sold end up as fodder for the goats. At the same time, a possibility and an option to have an income is lost so that few people remain in the mountain villages. But there remains the Christmas song “Oh Elato… Oh Elato…” for the younger ones to be moved.