"I make raki* of 19 degrees by boiling it twice. It is strong and doesn't get white like ouzo when you mix it with water. Raki with anise is also very tasty. I serve these drinks to my few customers along with roasted chickpeas, boiled cabbage and canned fish".

The residents are getting fewer

Elias Kallias, the grocer from Messenichola of Karditsa, keeps his store open more because he wants to socialise, rather than to earn money. "Our income is trivial, we're just getting by. The threads have been left unsold for years; women nowadays have neither the time nor the inclination to embroider".

Messenicholas's high school has a small number of students and teachers because the students are getting fewer by the year. In the village, there are a lot of single men, because the girls have moved to the cities. Since children can't just pop up, the village is in danger of vanishing. In 2005, during the last population count, only 205 people were left in the village, down from 2,000 in 1970.

They don't forget their village

The people of mountainous Karditsa, who left their villages in search of work, never forget their homeland, especially during holidays."The travellers always spend the Assumption's day here. On the last Sunday of July, the whole village walks to the Korona's monastery, which is a couple of kilometres from here, in order to transfer the icon of Holy Mary. We keep it in Messenicholas until the 15th of August and then we give it to the neighbouring village Morfovouni, where it stays until the end of August".

Once, the residents of Morfovouni had wanted to take the icon first, but as Mr. Elias says: "It was heavy and they couldn’t lift it. When we arrived, the icon was light as a feather. If our village keeps getting deserted, who will be left to make rakes and take the icon from Korona's monastery?".

*Raki is an unsweetened, sometimes anise-flavored, alcoholic drink popular in Greece and Turkey.

TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS

The few young people left gather at the village's square.

Very few kids are left in the village.

The landscapes of mountainous Karditsa are unique.

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