Christos aneste.
Today is Easter Sunday. And, as happens once every three or four years, it is Greek Orthodox Easter as well. Christos aneste (Christ is risen) is a traditional Orthodox Easter greeting. The proper response is Alethos aneste. Risen indeed.
There’s a Greek folk tale that on Good Friday every year all of the demons and devils and evil spirits come out to gnaw away at the Tree of Life. They have until the bells ring on Easter morning to do their evil work. You can really hear this story.
Clickety-clack the hooves.
Gnash-gnash the teeth.
Creak-creak the Tree.
Ring-ring the bells.
I was born on Christmas. There’s another Greek folk tale that children born on Christmas are actually not human children at all but changeling evil spirits called kallikanzaroi. So, if the old stories are true, I may be one of these evil beasties.
So every year I have a choice. Do I join my demonic brethren and gnaw away at the Tree of Life?
Clickety-clack the hooves.
Gnash-gnash the teeth.
Creak-creak the Tree.
Ring-ring the bells.
I know what I hope. I hope that on Easter morning when the bells sing out their “Christos aneste!” that I, too, shall be able to cry out “Alethos aneste!”.
Risen indeed.
Happy Easter!
I’d say the Greek folk tale saying that children born on Christmas are changeling spirits is poppycock. Some people believe that people born on Christmas are especially blessed, which I think is closer to the mark.
If you follow astrology at all, it means you have characteristics in common with Christ. But there has long been debate on the true date of Christ’s birth. Many scholars say that January 6 is the correct date. (If so, Jesus would still be a Capricorn!)
You also share your birthday with Isaac Newton (1642) Mathematician, scientist; Clara Barton (1821) Nurse; and Robert Ripley (1893) Cartoonist, “Believe It Or Not.” I’m not sure what conclusion can be drawn from that odd assortment of historical figures and celebrities. http://www.sonic.net/~billk/members.html
Some people share their birthday with a grandparent, or other relative — something which they may find an oddity in their childhood, but a tie that binds, as they become adults.
There can be no disputing the fact that anyone born on Christmas at least has some pretty stiff competition for attention on their special day.
Creating a thread here—do you have all this information at your fingertips? Or do you have super-duper pathways to every kind of tidbit, being a librarian? Please tell me so I can be erudite, too. As I was reading this post, I was thinking, boy is this person erudite and a beautiful writer. Then I saw it was my sister, and it doubled my admiration! AJ
I found this thread while googling for kallinkanzoi, a term I found in Roger Zelazny’s “This Immortal” (aka “And Call Me Conrad”) and a concept that has haunted me since I first learned of it, some 40 years ago.
I thank you for the new information, scant as it is (I didn’t know the song was part of the folktale, nor that “Alethos aneste!†was part of the religious response).
Glenn: There are many things you can call folktales, but ‘poppycock’ is definitely not one of them. The tale enriches us all, not the least by demonstrating our (humankind’s) propensity to destruction and hope in renewal.
Roger Zelazney wrote a science fiction novel whose hero was a kallikanzaroi. Are you using his poem from the novel, or is that poem part of the kallikanzaroi tradition? If you weren’t aware of the novel, it is the only time I have run across the kallikanzaroi in a science fiction novel.
Christos Aneste!