Anastenaria: Firewalking Ceremony

Yesterday my Greek Folklore class went to a traditional Greek Firewalking ceremony in a town near Thessaloniki. This ceremony occurs only twice a year and a ritual known as the Anastenaria. The dance is meant to heal people. Not just anyone can participate though, a firewalker must go through a long process before they can take part. The ceremony is three days long and is centered around St. Constantine. Greeks are Orthodox Christians, but this tradition is one element of folklife that remains in their lives, despite the fact that the church does not approve of it. The festival involves processions, music, dancing, animal sacrifices, and on the first and third days the firewalkers or anastenarides dance on hot coals without getting burned. It is believed that they enter a trance state with the help of St. Constantine and then they walk on the glowing coals carrying icons and red handkerchiefs. These icons have small metal engravings with different body parts, such as an eye, leg, or arm and they symbolize what they want to be healed.

Preparing to dance in the konaki--lots of icons are
decorating the walls 

When we arrived in the community the participants and other members of the community were in the konaki, a special shire where all of the holy icons were kept. They were dancing and there was lots of incense being used in preparation for the firewalking. The video shows the dancers and a small boy being carried across the fire. Apparently we went on a particularly unusual year. Normally only one person at a time will walk, but this year there was a feeling of connectedness among the anastenarides and they all came together to try and heal the little boy. My professor has being going to the ceremony for over 30 years and she has never before seen them carry someone who needs healing. We are not sure what was wrong with him exactly, but we think that the little boy couldn't walk because he was wearing a brace. All of the participants were deeply focused on the dancing and it did appear they were in a trance, they hot coals didn't bother them at all. An American one year tried to firewalk with them because he was so excited about the ceremony, but he ended up in the hospital instead. The event was a fitting culmination to my Greek Folklore class, especially since we had been studying traditional folklife practices for almost four months, it was interesting to actually see one occurring.

Spreading out the coals 

During the dance

Man's feet after dancing