The Greek Islands (35 page)

In the uplands, sheep are shorn and the air is full of the
plaintive
cry of lambs unable to recognize their shorn dams; about the 23rd of the month (St George’s Day, the patron saint of Brigands and Englishmen) the shepherds return to the mountains with their flocks.

Orchids at their best. Irises still going strong. Narcissi ending.

The Spring Asphodel (
Asphodelus microcarpus
) shows its branched spikes of white flowers, especially in the olive woods.

The rare Snake Wort (
Dracunculus vulgaris
) shows its huge green, brown and purple blossoms – rather like an outsize Arum Lily – and can often be located from a distance by its carrion-like smell. This is to attract flies on which it depends for transporting pollen.

The Prickly Pear (
Opuntia ficus-indica
) begins to show its pretty yellow flowers.

The Yellow Wallflower (
Cheiranthus cheiri
) now in flower.

Various species of Rock Rose (
Cistus
) begin to show their pink, white, or yellowish-white flowers.

The Judas Tree (
Carcis siliquastrum
) sometimes begins to bloom towards the end of the month.

Spanish and Thorny Broom (
Spartium junceum
and
Calycotome villosa
) explode into bright yellow on the hillsides.

The Golden Daisy (
Chrysanthemum coronarium
) decks the fields.

Parties are formed to go picnicking and ‘fetch back the May’; the young men of the village make wreaths of flowers to hang them at their sweethearts’ doors. But May is unlucky for marriage because, says the proverb, ‘In May the donkeys mate.’

Rock Rose, Wallflower, Periwinkle, Prickly Pear, Snake Wort, still in flower.

The pink Night-scented Stock (
Matthiola longipetala ssp. bicornis
), which in some years starts in April, sheds its delicious scent just after sunset. In the hills and mountains of Crete and Karpathos the white Paeony (
Paeonia clusii
) is flowering, while Rhodes has its own white Paeony (
P. rhodia
).

Judas Trees at their best, in great splashes of magenta all over the countryside.

Broom in full swing. Bog Iris still going strong. Orchids ending.

The Climbing Clematis (
Clematis flammula
) shows its white flowers. The peasants call it the swallow flower –
chelidonia
– probably because it appears at about the time when the swallows return.

The wild Thyme (
Thymus capitatus
) begins to flower, to the delight of the bees which produce the ‘Hymettus honey’.

White Acacia Trees (
Robinia pseudacacia
) in full flower.

In some places called ‘The Harvester’ because the harvest begins normally in this month. On the 24th falls the Nativity of St John the Baptist which is celebrated by a great feast with crackling bonfires.

The Oleander (
Nerium oleander
), in full bloom. It begins in May, or even in late April, and continues until late September.

Love-in-a-mist, alias Devil-in-a-bush (
Nigella damascena
), nods its delicate pale blue flowers.

The leaves around the flowers of the Ailanthus Tree (
Ailanthus
altissima
) turn orange and red.

The Squirting Cucumber (
Ecballium elaterium
) shows its
pale yellow flowers. Within a month it is ready for action, and then mind your eye. Active until September.

Thyme in full swing. Also wild Mint (
Mentha pulegium
) and yellow Three-lobed Sage (
Salvia triloba
).

Swamp Iris and Prickly Pear still in flower.

The Rock Caper (
Capparis rupestris
) flaunts its large white flowers with their long purple stamens on rocks and cliffs by the sea.

The thistle-like
Eryngium creticum
turns from green to a beautiful metallic blue, giving whole areas a bluish colour.

The bright vermillion flowers of the Pomegranate (
Punica granatum
) are seen; flowers also in July.

The Chaste Tree (
Vitex agnus-castus
), really more a large bush than a tree, shows its purple flowers, especially along the coasts. The ancient Greeks (and also the Crusaders) believed that the scent of its leaves and flowers was an ‘anti-aphrodisiac’, hence the name.

In some places called ‘The Thresher’, presumably because the corn is threshed in this month.

On the 30th there is a huge open-air festival at Soroni, Rhodes, to celebrate the arrival of St Saul who was a
fellow-passenger
of St Paul during the shipwreck at Lindos. (A case of transferred names and attributes – as with ancient gods and goddesses, one wonders?)

The violet Delphinium (
Delphinium peregrinum
) in flower; also in August.

The Golden Thistle (
Scolymus hispanicus
) shows its yellow flowers in all uncultivated places.

The Mullein (
Verbascum undulatum
) also displays its yellow flowers. Some species are used by fishermen to make fish poisons.

The Oleander is seen in masses of pink; occasionally white or cream.

Prickly Pear still in flower.

The Agave or Aloe (
Agave americana
) rockets upwards, after a flying start in May, and produces a tall (up to 10 m) spike of yellow-green flowers; also in September. This plant takes fifteen to twenty years to flower, and then dies in a few weeks.

The Caper is still in flower.

The Magpie is the bird of the month, and August begins (on the 1st) with the Progress of the Precious and Unifying Cross. This feast prepares one for another feast which is the prelude to the Feast of the Repose of the Virgin, on the 14th. On the 23rd the Feast of the Holy Merciful is celebrated; again on the 29th a feast for the Cutting Off of the Precious Head of St John the Precursor heralds more abstinence.

In general, however, August is the great dancing month, and panagyreias are held on the 6th, the 15th and the 23rd in most of the islands, especially at Trianda and Cremasto on Rhodes.

The beautiful white scented flowers of the Sand Lily (
Pancratium
maritimum
) appear in the coastal sands. It is rare and regional.

The Caper is still in flower and continues until September.

On the 14th there is a festival dedicated to the Cross at Callithies of Rhodes. Childless women make a weary pilgrimage to the top of the razor-back hill called Tsambika below San
Benedetto
– and here, in the chapel of Our Lady, they eat a small piece of the wick from one of the lamps which will make them
fruitful. If the resulting infant is not named after the Virgin, it dies.

The Sea Squill (
Urginea maritima
) show its tall, erect, unbranched spike of white flowers, mostly in olive woods. The peasants make a rat poison from its huge bulb which can attain a diameter of 15 cm or more.

The grapes begin to be gathered.

A golden month which belongs to St Demetrius; at his feast on the 26th wine casks are unstopped and the new wine tasted. Many weddings take place in this month, and an eagerly
anticipated
spell of fine warm weather which comes around the middle of the month is known as the Little Summer of St Demetrius.

Grape-gathering in full swing.

The crocus-like
Sternbergia lutea
and
Sternbergia
sicula
show their bright yellow blossoms after the first autumn rains.

The Autumn Mandrake (
Mandragora autumnalis
) shows its purple flowers at about the same time; rather rare.

The Autumn Cyclamen have just started their lilac flood;
C. hederifolium
and
C. graecum
are the two autumn-flowering species. The spring-flowering species (March–April) include
C. cretica
, white flowered and fragrant from Crete,
C. repandum
, white or pink in colour from Rhodes, and
C. persicum
, fragrant and variably coloured, from Rhodes and other Aegean islands. These spring-flowering species of Cyclamen are less common than the autumn-flowering species and of very local distribution.

In many places still called ‘The Sower’ because seed-time is beginning; St Andrew is the most popular saint of this month and his feast falls on its last day. He is the bringer of the first snow in mountainous areas (popular saying: ‘St Andrew has washed his beard white’). On the 18th is the feast of St Plato the Martyr, whom popular ignorance has transformed into St Plane Tree, the names being very similar (
Platonos
and
Platanos
). The weather which prevails on the 18th will last through Advent (The Forty Days). Now the Pleiades begin to rise in the early evening, and the first sea gales drive the
longshore
fisherman to his winter quarters. The melancholy of the dying year is hardly cast off by St Andrew’s holiday on which everyone eats
loucumades
– a sort of doughnut-shaped waffle.

The Autumn Crocus (
Crocus laevigatus
) appears, white or mauve.

The Saffron Crocus (
C. sativus ssp. cartwrightianus
) and its Cretan form
C. oreocreticus
also appear, purple blossoms. Its stigmas are used to make the dye and condiment ‘saffron’.

Cyclamen in full bloom.

The fruit of the Orange and Tangerine begin to turn golden.

The Corfu Snowdrop (
Galanthus corcyrensis
) makes its appearance, but may be delayed until December; it is rare and sporadic. It may, perhaps, occur in some of the other Greek islands as it, or a very similar species, is found on the Greek mainland, including Macedonia and Thrace.

The saint of the month is St Nicholas (on the 6th), and rightly so; the seafarer needs his patron saint most at the year’s end. But there are plenty more on the list of saints.

4 December – St Barbara, the patron saint of artillerymen

5 December – St Savvas

12 December – St Spiridion, the patron saint of Corfu

Christmas Eve
Incense is burned before supper, and those flat hot-cross buns called ‘Christ’s loaves’ are baked in the oven. After supper the cloth is not removed from the table because it is believed that Christ will come and eat during the night. A log or an old shoe is left burning on the fire: the smoke will ward off stray ‘Kallikanzari’ (little mischievous faun-like imps).

Cyclamen end; Anemones begin.

Almond and Japanese Loquat in flower towards the end of the month.

Oranges and Tangerines ripe.

Most of the Greek islands, when their small size is considered, have a rich land fauna, though the larger mammals, as in most European countries, are getting scarcer.

In some of the larger islands the Jackal (
Canis aureus
) is still found, even in densely populated Corfu which is one of its most western habitats. The Fox (
Vulpes vulpes
) is common. The Brown Hare is replaced by the Wild Rabbit (
Oryctolagus
cuniculus
). The peasants affirm that from Delos northwards there are only hares, while rabbits only are found to the south. Delos itself would appear to be still contested by these two species, which never interbreed. Other wild mammals include the Pine Marten (
Martes martes
), the Weasel (
Mustella nivalis
), the Hedgehog (
Erinaceus Europaeus
) and the Mole (
Talpa caeca
). In his
Faune de la Grèce
(Athens, 1878), Th. de Heldreich mentions the Otter (
Lutra lutra
) as occurring in Corfu; it has probably been exterminated since that time. Squirrels do not seem to be
found; but some kind of nocturnal Dormouse (
Glis glis
or, perhaps,
Dryomys nitedula
) is fairly plentiful in the pine-tree areas. The Corfu peasants call it
Petania
(Flyer) on account of its huge leaps from tree to tree.

In the mountains of Crete the long-horned Ibex (
Capra
hircus cretensis
) can still be found, but it is now very rare. It is known by the local name of
Agrimi.

The marine mammals are represented by the Monk Seal (
Monachus monachus
). Until World War II, a small colony of these seals still inhabited the tiny island of Erikousa to the north of Corfu, but none have been seen since the war. The Monk Seal is no longer found in the Aegean either, and it is probably a disappearing species. Although not eaten, it is killed by the fishermen who accuse it of robbing and damaging their nets and lobster-pots. The Common Dolphin (
Delphinius delphis
) and the Common Porpoise (
Phocaena phocaena
) are very plentiful. The Bottle-nosed Dolphin (
Tursiops truncatus
) is rarer; its presence is often betrayed, especially at night, by its harsh and snorty breathing.

All the islands have a varied, though never very abundant, bird population, including most of the more common
European
species and many migrants. The Golden Eagle and the Griffon Vulture (
Aquila chrysaetos
and
Gyps fulvus
) can
sometimes
be seen soaring above the mountains. The Eagle Owl (
Bubo bubo
) and the Barn Owl (
Tyto alba
) are rare; but the Scops Owl (
Otus scopa
) and the Little Owl (
Athene nocturna
) are very common. The first is known as
Gionis
and the second as
Koukouvaya
in imitation of their cries. The Little Owl, as its name implies, was sacred to Athene in classical times and its picture appears on many of the Athenian coins. The Magpie (
Pica pica
) is plentiful and so is the Raven (
Corvus corax
); but the other Crows, so common on the mainland, appear to be rarer.