West Mani Local Customs

The only happy events were those of a wedding and a birth of a boy. Like ancient Greeks they thought that a boy or a "koukos" would guarantee the biological sequence of the family and the ethnos in general. Besides, every boy was looked upon as one more warrior or a "rifle" in the family that would be very useful in future fights.

The birth of a girl would pass absolutely unnoticeable: no visits, no congratulations and no refreshments. On the contrary, when a boy was born men and women would go to congratulate the happy parents. Before entering the housemen would shoot and then pass the threshold with the words: "Long life the baby and let another one follow him!" The festival on this occasion would last several days.

Sometimes upon their wish members of a defeated family could stay in the village. This was possible on some certain terms. If it was a plain murder a remoursed murderer would perform a simple ceremony and after this he would become a special protector and benefactor of the family of his former enemy. Cases like this were discussed and approved by a local council, or "Gerontiki" that was headed by a Bey or a captain. This council was the only administrative organ that ruled and maintained order in Mani.

The fights between hostile families would immediately stop only in one case – in the case of the Turkish thread. The longest truce or "treva" was announced on the eve of the liberation movement on the request of Mavromichalis.

The fights or vendetta continued after the liberation of Greece but they were gradually dying out until completely stopped after the end of the Second World War. Today this Maniot custom belongs to the past of this area, part of its old traditions.

So don't be afraid to come! ;)

Vendetta (or the so called "gdikiomos") appeared as a result of fights between competing families. At first it was a punishment for some hostile action against a family or a kin and not against an individual.

A decision to start vendetta was usually taken in cold blood at a family’s gathering and could be directed against any member of the hostile family.

If during the vendetta the father of the family was killed then every boy in the family lived with only one dream – to take a revenge for their father’s death. After that the family that fulfilled their duty closed itself in the house to avoid any contacts with the members of the "defeated" family.

Vendetta was rather often aimed at a full extermination of the hostile family. The family that decided to begin vendetta announced officially about their intention, the village bells rang, both families locked in their towers and this meant that the war started. After this any method of the fight was considered right and legal. Other villagers tried not to stay in the way of the fighting families and most of their time spent in the houses.

In some cases vendetta could be temporally stopped, it was a kind of a break, the so-called "treva". Usually these were the periods of agricultural labors such as tillage, sowing, threshing, gathering of olives and so on. The hostile parties could even work on the neighboring fields but in dead silence. They used the nights for storing food and weapons in their house-towers. As soon as the "treva" ended the military actions resumed.

Also short breaks were acceptable if in a hostile family there were such holy ceremonies as christening, weddings and so.

Usually vendetta finished when the hostile family was completely exterminated. Those few who could be saved would leave the village and so all the property of the defeated enemy became loot of the winners.

When someone in a village dies all the women come to his/her house for "sitting". They take their seats round the coffin and start weeping songs in the form of a dialogue.

In the process of weeping there exists a strict hierarchy. Thus, when a man dies the weeping should start his mother who is followed then by his sister, daughter and a wife in the end. It is considered an honour when somebody outside of the family decides to weep over the deceased. It is not allowed to stop the woman who is weeping and if some other woman wants to join or to continue she should ask the permission for doing this.

The weeping ceremony that starts at the house of a deceased then continues during the procession to the church where it turns into load sobbing. The weeping strengthens on the way to the cemetery supported by the voices of the deceased’s relatives and reaches its peak at the grave.

Sometimes weepers make long trips to come to the funeral of some distant relative. They improvise their weeping songs, which include some set phrases that they constantly repeat.

The Maniot weeping songs are long funeral poems that include certain events from the life of a deceased, stages of his social and military career, his merits and so on.

Some funeral songs have clearly expressed didactic character and represent a certain historical and ethnical interest. It is only natural to expect that the most characteristic weeping songs are connected with the institute of vendetta.