On the three days of January 6, 7 and 8 in Kali Vrysi there is a reenactment of the satirical Dionysian wedding
The three-day annual events of the revival of the ancient custom of the Bambugeron in Good Faucet Drama.
The particularly good weather that prevailed this year resulted in the attraction hundreds of visitors from all over eastern Macedonia to experience one up close custom which is lost in the depths of the centuries and which with the latest decision of the Ministry of the Interior was registered as a new element in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Index.
Kali Vrysi, one of the most famous villages of the municipality of Prosotsani, in the mountains of rural Drama, every year during the three days of Epiphany, at the end of Holy Twelve days, is the focus of the revival of a tradition that has been passed down unchanged from generation to generation.
During the three days of January 6, 7 and 8, young and old residents of the village, in the majority of them men, will dress up, spill out into the streets and fill the village with voices, songs and the deafening sounds of the bells that are hung around their waists .
An imposing outfit steeped in history
The Babugeras in their impressive and imposing form pour out into the streets after the sanctification of the waters on Epiphany day and hit the world with the bag of ashes they hold in their hand to exorcise evil.
THE mask made from animal skins has the form goat which symbolizes the animal that has power for life. Also, the bells belted in the middle make a sound to wake up nature.
THE hump placed back on the back symbolizes the old lady which has yielded the fruits of life, namely the descendants and in this way the contribution of all the elderly to the preservation of traditions and their transmission from generation to generation is honored.
It should be noted that several of the uniforms worn today by young people according to custom were made even a hundred years ago, which is why a great effort is being made to preserve them.
From the god Dionysus to Alexander the Great and the terrified Turks
According to folk traditions and local legends, the Babugera during the time of Dionysus were satyrs, followers of the god who lived a carefree life.
In the days of Alexander the Great, it is said that these were used by the great soldier in his campaigns in order to scare away the Persian king’s elephants by the sound of the bells.
During the Turkish rule, no Turkish tax collector set foot in Kali Vrysi to collect the so-called tribute of the Greeks to the Turks because the Babougera-looking savages appeared and terrorized them, causing them to flee.
The worship of Dionysus at Kali Vrysi
Babougera, as a custom, has its roots in the worship of the god Dionysos and this is no coincidence since in 1996 the archaeological dig brought to light an important sanctuary of the worship of the god Dionysos just 2 km outside Kali Vrysi.
The excavation revealed the sanctuary complex at the small Toumba site. This area dominates the entire Aggitis river valley on a plateau and is a quite remarkable natural position, important for different seasons between the Menoikio and Falakro mountains at a short distance from the Maara Aggitis cave. It is a rectangular building complex, measuring 34x16m. which is preserved in good condition and is internally divided into three main areas that make up the functional units of the sanctuary, with the main area of the sanctuary being the first area which chronologically belongs to the end of the 4th to the beginning of the 3rd century BC.
The god Dionysus was the god of fruitfulness, pleasure, the vine and the theater. Son of a chthonian goddess, Semele, and the heavenly god Zeus, the fruit of an illicit relationship, because of which he fled to Thrace where he grew up. He was worshiped in this region with a special passion because he gave man hope and the divine fury to exceed his limits.
Source: Skai
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