The custom is revived in the chapel of Saints Constantine and Helen in the Local Community of Mavrolefki in the Municipality of Prosotsani. The custom comes from Eastern Thrace and is a peculiar manifestation of popular worship in honor of Saints Constantine and Helen.
The ritual of the Anasthenarians begins in the afternoon of May 20th in the konaki, where the icons of Saints Constantine and Helen are kept, which are the most precious heirlooms for the Anasthenarians. They call them “Chares” and “Grandfathers” and they have them in a cloth case, from which hang bells and many tributes. In the konak are also kept the “amanetia”, handkerchiefs that are considered sacred, precious and ancestral heirlooms. In the same place, the sighing instruments, today’s lyre and tambourine, and bagpipes in the past, are also kept.
On the afternoon of May 20, Anastenari men and women begin to gather in the konaki and sit self-focused, in obvious anxious anticipation. At some point the lyre and the tambourine begin to play their special purposes and soon the first sighing songs are heard. The dance is static, monotonous, but shocking, and lasts until midnight.
The next day, May 21, the animal sacrifice (qurbani) is performed, by all for the good of all. They also take water from the sanctum, which is an essential element of the whole sighing ritual space.
The ecstatic dance is repeated in the konaki in the afternoon of the same day, without interruption, with ever-increasing intensity. In the evening, the procession begins, with the instruments in front and with continuous dancing, to the firing range. There they have already lit a large pile of wood, which soon turns into coals. The fire is lit by Anastenarides, who have this privilege from their ancestors.
The chosen ones, holding icons and amanetia, enter the athrakia and continue their dance, without showing pain or any discomfort from the fire and the high temperature. At this moment they believe that commitment every disease, epizootic, evil. The firing is returned by a circular dance, around the trampled coals. This is followed by a ritual communal dinner of meat from the animal sacrificed in the morning. The ecstatic dance is repeated over the next two days, and the whole exhilarating ritual ends with a fireworks display on the evening of May 23.
