Pissouri, CY
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PISSOURI CONTACT No. 1
Mrs Chrystalla loakim Gavrilides
A remarkable lady, a remarkable life
The Village Coffee Shop was packed for the presentation last Sunday to honour two senior citizens of Pissouri. Mrs Chrystalla Ioakim Gavrilides was born on the 2nd of April 1906. In 1926 she was Pissouri’s first teacher, teaching first of all at the Old School from which the road outside the Moonlight gets its name (the school was in the old buildings below the Moonlight). Later it moved to the building opposite Galatea Supermarket. Many of the elderly people in the Coffee Shop with us that evening had been taught by her. She is a remarkable and lovely lady, and, judging by the photographs, was a great beauty in her youth. She now lives in Limassol. For those of you who remember the very elderly lady, Zoe, who lived above the Bank of Cyprus, Mrs Chrystalla was her aunt. Zoe’s father, Mrs Chrystalla’s elder brother, died in the Village when he was 109. Clearly there is something in the water or in the air in Pissouri!
This was a lovely community occasion and the deep affection and respect for Mrs Chrystalla was obvious. After the speeches and a video of a Christmas message recorded earlier Mrs Chrystalla – who would put many 70 year-olds to shame – read out a speech reminiscing about her life and the Village as it was then and is now. She became emotional as she summed up her philosophy of life – love, God and happiness - and the audience were clearly equally affected! Truly a great lady.
Her full speech is translated below. There were other presentations and speeches, and I hope to write up the tribute to Grandfather Foutas for you next week.
Mrs Gavrilides speech:
"Dear Fellow Villagers
It is a great pleasure to be here today and I am honoured by the invitation of the Repatriates Association of Pissouri, which I thank for organizing this occasion. Old Pissouri was where I spent my childhood and my youth, until I left Pissouri to study for my career, my family, and to other places in Cyprus and abroad. Your invitation was a heavy burden for a 102-year old lady but another burden is nostalgic pleasure, which is very agreeable. That is why I thank you from the depth of my soul for your invitation.
I was born in Pissouri on April 2nd 1906. It was Easter Day. The great day of Jesus rising. Statistically, I am supposed to be the oldest amongst my fellow-villagers. I am also the first lady teacher born in Pissouri - I am very fond of saying that.
It is important for me to remember my uncle, my mother's brother, Ioannis Erotokritou, who, after he finished school in 1891 and with many other qualifications, managed to achieve a qualification as a teacher from the Council in Nicosia. He worked for a decade in Pissouri and he was well known for his qualifications and knowledge.
As time goes on, the more my memories chase me and I thank God because even if my memory becomes weak it is still able to carry me back to places, people and times gone by in Pissouri, and I assure you this happens a great deal.
I can see with joy the radical development of our village and I think about what it was and what it has become. I am not wondering about how and why it came to this point because I know. The industriousness and productivity of Pissourians is what has brought us with the passing of time in our village, to a stage to be envious of today. I remember well all the Pissourians of the
time we are talking about, that is of the first decades of the last century.
As today, we were different types of people, rich and poor. What we didn't have were idle people who expected others to support them: this was a credit to Pissouri.
Times were hard. The main work was agricultural and goat herding. Although we had the sea very close to us people didn't fish, but it was a symbol in the life of local people. The sea air was a moderating influence in the very cold winters and the very hot summers, agreeably affecting our village's climate when we didn't have air-conditioning or central heating.
Our village had much fertile land but we didn't have the most important necessity, water. So the local farmers grew wheat, barley and trees. We had a lot of carobs that gave us the black gold of Cyprus. That is what they called the carobs in the old days. We also had plenty of olives and oil - these were our main product.
In the autumn, our village celebrated the harvest. From early in the morning everyone was out in the fields picking carobs - the village was empty. In the evening they gathered in the coffee shops to rest and talk. At the beach area we used to have the carob warehouses for the exporters of Limassol and a couple for the Villagers. The transport animals were loaded to carry the carobs down to the sea for weighing and shipping. We had carob honey (haroupomelo) which was as special for the children then as jams etc are today.
The fields near the beach had higher humidity in the summer so watermelons and similar crops were grown there. I remember when I was a child hanging around the fields with the other children looking for ripe watermelons and red tomatos. The concentrated taste of the local products were deliciously intense. In one agricultural event local water melons took the first prize, as did the local wheat.
The biggest problem of those times was usury. Poor families went to moneylenders to borrow money. The terms and conditions of borrowing were hard. They had interest on interest, and there were repayment deadlines to be met. Those who couldn't make the repayments had their lands sold by auction - delaleese as it is called in Cyprus. I have my worst memories about this matter. I remember mothers and children crying when there properties were forfeited to the Lalease. The poor people who lost their land had to work on their own land for the new owners which was a double psychological blow.
As I said before, we lacked water. There were two wells in Pissouri. One was Elengous. It was called this because it was outside Elengous' s house in the north of the Village. This was the potable water supply. The other was Yerolakos in the Square where the Bank of Cyprus is now. We used to use that water for domestic use. Carrying water was the job of the women. Pictures are coming back in my head of how it was with the women and their pots on their shoulders. They were gathering at the wells during the afternoons, and this was a social event. It was the only way of meeting each other and they gossiped about everything.
As a woman I would be failing if I didn't mention the role of women in society. A woman's position was always next to her husband in every aspect of her life. Women also had to take care of their homes and their children. After dinner they worked at the loom. From outside the house in the evening it was very rare not to hear the sound of the loom working. The loom had to cover all the clothing needs of the family and provided the dowry of the girls when they were ready to marry.
I would like to talk about the transport of the time. We used to have donkeys and the landau, a type of carriage. The landau travelled from Limassol to Paphos and back. It also carried the post. Our Village was in the middle of the journey so the landau stopped to rest at Kalamonas. There was a hani (resthouse) there where the nightclub is now. The animals were changed there. When we wanted to travel we had to be at Kalamonas before midnight because the landau passed at midnight. That is what was happening until the first car came to Cyprus.
The first car in Pissouri was bought by a man called Niarchos. I don't remember his surname. It was a four-seater and opened new dimensions for transport in the Village.
1912 was a special year for our village because of our newly-built church of St Apostolos Andreas. It had been built on the same spot as the old small and derelict church. I was a very young girl and I remember people crowding inside and outside the church.
I talked before about the progressiveness of Pissourians. They were also progressive in education - their dream was for the children to lead a better life, and they believed that education would lead to this.
This turning to education was very important because I believe that is what changed things in Pissouri. I would like to say more and more about old Pissouri and I would like to stay here but I don't want to abuse your patience; on the other hand I am afraid of my memories playing tricks. As a teacher I taught thousands of children around Cyprus and abroad, but I was also taught many of things in my life, mainly love. To conclude, I would like to quote from a poem by Ioannis Polemis:
Love you are the happiness of earth
And the skies’ blessing
Sweet like the first star of dawn
Great like the Blessed Virgin.
Keep then, my dear Villagers, as something precious in your heart, love, and continue your lives believing in God without reservation and with optimism and you won't be chasing after happiness. Happiness will chase you.
Thank you very much. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope the New Year will bring the reunion of our Island".
SNAKES & FOXES
We have had a pretty unhappy whip snake in the garden this week. It’s not a happy life being a snake in Cyprus, let alone a snake that’s cold, hungry and should be asleep. If you find one please don’t chop its head off, you might be destroying the good guy. Just leave them alone, or help them gently back to the bushes or dry-stone walls, preferably in a warm, safe place. Unless, of course, you really don’t know how to recognise the Cyprus viper, in which case leave well alone. Or just call me!
To my great delight I saw a live and very perky fox yesterday, the first I have seen in Pissouri for a very long time (as opposed to flattened or poisoned foxes). Given the persecution of these beautiful animals, I find it hard to believe their numbers could possibly have recovered sufficiently to be a problem, so I hope the Game Department’s new anti-fox campaign will not destroy what we have left of our indigenous foxes.
DESALINATION PLANT
Whatever happened about the desalination plant contracts row? Work is going ahead at a remarkable pace in the eucalyptus grove on the beach at Kouklia below Aphrodite Hills. It is hoped that some of this water will eventually make it to Pissouri. The pros and cons of desalination are another matter which will be worth looking at later, as is sustainability.
HOW BAD IS THE PROPERY CRASH?
The Buy Sell Office at the beach has closed. The rumour is that half their offices have been closed.
SEWING GROUP
Mary Bennett has decided that the sewing group should become independent so that it will be open to everyone. We know how much pleasure this group has provided in the Village so it is great to know that the good work is going to continue. If you would like to contact Mary please telephone her on 25 222288/99750332.
CYTANET INTERNET SERVICES
If any other Cyta users have a Meldrew in the household who has deleted the circulars from Cytanet about the improvement in their internet services on the grounds that “we don’t need them and it’ll cost more”, ring Cyta Technical Services on 8000 80 80 and get them to help you to get the new speeds working on your connection. Not only is this an improvement in service, it costs less…..
CONTACT LIST
Somewhat to my surprise no-one at all has asked to be removed from my contact list . Pissouri Contact is available free to anyone who wishes to receive it. It is, as I said, simply a happy continuation of my service for the community circulating Village information. Contact me at pissouricontact@cytanet.com.cy if you need to circulate notices etc, if you want an alternative view published or if you want to join this circulation list.
Daintre Hart
99 350 819/25 222 802
pissouricontact@cytanet.com.cy
13 December 2008.
