Greece! Naxos Part II: The Great Hissing Zorbas

The sunset concert in Naxos Town was amazing. It was hosted by this guy, Nico, who I think lived in the Venetian castle. He was fiftysomething, I think-- longish gray hair, a very red face, and a very friendly personality. He started out by telling us about why he hosts these concerts. When he was younger, people from neighboring villages would occasionally come into Naxos Town to announce a party. These parties were held for big events, like weddings and births and such, and they were serious parties-- several days sometimes of dancing and singing and drinking and having a generally good time. To keep this spirit, Nico offered us unlimited Naxos wine and shots of a special liqueur they make on Naxos. He also had bottles of Fanta, which is what Britt and I stuck to. He told us that when he was younger, only the men drank at these parties as it was considered coarse and unladylike. So Britt and I were just being proper young ladies-- albeit a proper young lady with a withered arm in one case.



The concert started out with an old man playing the fiddle and a younger man playing the mandolin. They played some traditional Naxos folk songs and the old man sang. I, of course, didn't understand a word, but Nico piped in helpfully from time to time. Even if I didn't understand any of the lyrics, the songs were still beautiful. Music is the international language, isn't it? Or is that math...

Anyway, after a few songs, the dancers came out. They were dressed as zorbas, which are shepherds that herd goats up in the mountains. The men were wearing enormous puffy pants, which Nico explained was so they had enough leg room to jump over rocks and chase goats around. (I would also like to point out at this point that Nico kept interchanging the words "shepherd" and "serpent"-- or at least that's what it sounded like. Picture, if you will, a snake wearing giant pants. You're welcome.)

The first dance they did was a courting dance. Apparently in Ye Olden Days, the people of Naxos didn't have much time for courtship. Dances were really their only shot at romance, so the whole purpose of the dance was for the men to steal a kiss from their partners. The men did lots of fancy moves and flips and being generally impressive while the ladies played coy and held up their handkerchiefs strategically to block any sly smooches.

Also, Greeks apparently hiss when they're excited. It's kind of difficult to explain unless you see it. Instead of whooping or howling in that weird way Americans have, they hiss. So... just picture men(/serpents) in giant pants, trying to seduce women with sexy, vaguely acrobatic dances while they hiss.

Yeah, it was awesome.

One of the guys was an absolute ham. He was totally playing it to the stands with over-the-top flirtatiousness.

The next act was a bagpiper. I know, what? Greek bagpipers? Yes, my friend.

stolen from the interwebs.

It's basically an inside-out goat. The skin is rubbed with lanolin (or "sheep tail fat," as Nico put it) and the pipes are made from cow horns (or "cow corns," as it were). The whole thing is held together with beeswax. This bagpipe is made in the exact same way it was made in the Helenic times, when the island of Naxos worshiped Apollo and Dionysus. Every year, they would hold a feast for Dionysus that was, from what I understand, basically Woodstock. Except with bagpipes. At dawn on the first day of the feast, all of the shepherds on the island would start playing their goatpipes and converge on the holy spot where the festival was held. Mr. Bagpiper played us a few of their sacred songs and Nico joined in with the drum, rockin' that goatpipey jam. It was pretty amazing, and kind of hard to describe. The songs felt kind of wild, like I should be frolicking through the trees with dryads or centaurs or something. I suppose that was the idea.

Then the dancers came out again, this time dressed as sailors. It's funny to me that a little island like Naxos has distinct cultures on the island, but they really do. It was nice to see different styles of dress and dance represented.

After we watched the performances, Nico invited us all to get up and join in the dancing. Of course we couldn't turn up the opportunity to dance with hissing zorbas. Who could? So we set our stuff aside and got ready to join the big Greek conga line that had started winding through the tiny courtyard. Britt got in toward the end of the line, but I tried to join her just as the front of the line passed by. That cheeky dancer I mentioned before was leading the line and he grabbed me and pulled me in so I was second in line. There was lots of spinning involved and lots of screaming "OPA!" and lots and lots of fun and my hair kept getting in my mouth but I didn't really care because oh my gosh I was dancing with Greeks in Greece.

By far, the best night of my trip, and a memory I'll hold for a long, long time. Sunset concert in Naxos Town-- do it. And tell Nico I said hi.