"What are these people saying, dad? I don't understand them". "They are Tsakonians, my child, a tribe that lives in a different time. Mankind is so close to going to the moon and they keep speaking their old dialect. Isn't there someone to teach them to speak Greek? I wonder when evolution is going to reach this place".

We are on a bus from Tripolis to Leonidio, sometime in thw 50's. Among the passengers is a family from Tripolis, going on vacation to Tyro of Kynouria, and some farmers from the nearby villages, who speak a language quite inconceivable to those coming from Tripolis.

They started their journey from Laconia

The story of the Tsakonians at Kynouria begins in the 8th century A.D., when the invasions of the Slavs in Peloponnese forced many of the residents to abandon the fields of Laconia in order to save themselves. They had two choices, either to seek refuge at the Frankish coasts of south Laconia, or to look for a safer place in the mountains. As a result, one group of people went to Monemvasia and another to the unapproachable Mount Parnonas. Those who detested to the idea of living under the Franks, and preferred Parnonas, were gradually named from Lacones to Exolacones, a term which over the years was paraphrased to Tsakones (Tsakonians).

Tsakonians are bright, stubborn and devoted to their goals. When they get something in their head they can't stop until it is fulfilled. It is also very difficult to make them change their minds. A typical example of this is that they were Christianized in 1.000 A.D. Up until then, they still believed in the Twelve Gods of Olympus. Nevertheless, when they became Christians they declared that they would never deny their faith, not in a million years.

When Easter comes in Leonidio, Tsakonians send "messages" up to the sky with improvised airships and compete fiercely on who will make the best one and how high it will fly. On Holy Friday, people in the three neighbourhoods of Leonidio-Stai, Sio and Koilasso- don't make peace, they wage war. They compete on who will raise the Epitaph higher and in order to win, they climb on each others' shoulders like acrobats. 

The Turks were afraid of them

The almost impossible access to the mountainous Kynouria during the Ottoman Empire and the rumours concerning a rebellious and strong tribe living on the mountains exhited the Turks. The known Turkish traveller Evliya Çeleb  characteristically describes the tribe in 1668, as he often travelled all over the enslaved country.

"Between Monemvasia and Nafplio there is a tribe named Tsakuna. Their language is neither Greek nor Italian. Their speech is weird and incoherent. They are Christian rajahs. The climate and the waters are wonderful there. Some pregnant women carry  burdens of more than 100 kilos on their backs. The young men carry 200-300 kilos. These non-believers are so strong. All of them wear white capes with wide sleeves and tufts with fringes made of fine silk. All men and women, wear white turbans on their heads. They have big eyes, wide faces and a loud voice which echoes on the mountains like a thunder".

The teachers used to punish them

The modern Greeks, who used to travel for hours by old buses rattling along on mountainous roads in order to arrive at Kynouria 40-50 years ago, had the incorrect impression that Tsakonians are an isolated tribe in Parnonas. They also thought that they speak an incomprehensible language and doesn't fit into the modern world.

Until the 60's, Tsakonians were considered a fringe tribe even by the Ministry of Education and they had been ordered to stop speaking their language at schools. Teachers used to beat them in order to prevent them from speaking their mother tongue. They thought it was a foreign language and that Tsakonians were a tribe that threatened the racial clarity of the rest of the country.

The truth though, is quite different, as the Tsakonians are the descendants of the ancient Lacones, who spoke a Dorian dialect. In other words, these people are the direct descendants of the Dorians and consequently are more genuinely Greek than anyone else.

Their language is dying out 

Even though the elders in Kynouria continue to speak the dialect fluently, the younger generations mostly understand it rather than speak it. The preservation of the language was seriously "wounded" when grandparents started dying and children moved away with their parents. How could the language be saved without the local tales and lullabies recited ans sung patiently by a loving grandmother?

Another hard strike against the language was the contemporary evolution, as there were words in the Tsakonian language for every single thing of everyday use in the house.

When these objects changed, though, and were replaced by new ones, but there was no time for a new vocabulary to be created. In the past, whatever people used to eat or wear was local, while today it has been invaded by foreign goods with strange names that are not even modern Greek. How can an ancient language survive in this modern verbal jumble?

In Leonidio, the Tsakonian language is spoken by only three teachers who beg the Ministry of Education to let them teach their students to speak it too. Unfortunately, it seems that there is no space for what is simple and self-evident in the Greek educational system.

Their offer to the motherland

During the Ottoman Empire, the Tsakonians found a way out to the sea and developed great shipping and trading activities. Passionately in love with their motherland, during the revolution of 1821 they offered their ships, to the military and they were turned into battleships. But this became the main cause of their impoverishment, as the majority of the ships sunk.

The vigorous, clever and stubborn ship-owners, the Tsakonians fled to Constantinople, Bucharest and Odessa between 1830-35. The Tsakonian floating caravans of Danube used to be very famous back then. But as it was very hard for a business to be successful in the Balkans, because of the continuous national and political changes, they finally returned to Kynouria and dealt with their family properties.

The previous financial and social power of Tsakonians is pictured on the numerous and impressive mansions of Leonidio, that are preserved and treasured by their owners.

Along with the Tsakonian merchants and ship-owners, who wondered over lands and seas, the farmers stubbornly cultivated the stony soils of Parnonas's slopes, living under poverty and deprivation. Their children used to get in the boat every morning and fight against the waves until they arrived at the port of Plaka. From there, they had to walk a couple of kilometres to Leonidio where there was a school. Most of the children were barefoot, but even those who had shoes didn't wear them, they hung them around their necks to keep them clean.

They inhabit nine villages

Finally, it should be mentioned that the Tsakonian people are not linked to the whole of  Kynouria. Only Leonidio, Kastanitsa, Prastos, Sitaina, St. Andrew, Tyros, Sapounakaiika, Melana and Pragmateftis are considered 100% Tsakonian villages. Mesogeio and Paralio Astros, Poulithra, Korakovouni and Charadro are also inhabited by many Tsakonians.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS

The Tsakonians are percipient and they have a penetrating look.

The Tsakonian dance derives from antiquity.

Leonidio is the capital of Tsakonia.

Tyros is a beautiful Tsakonian fishermen's village.

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