Episode 7. BIRTH AND DEATH THE ATHENIAN WAY
Athenians remain attached to the traditions of the Orthodox Church, from lighting a candle in a little church while out shopping to wanting a priest at the major rites of passage from birth to death.
Prize-winning poet American poet A.E. Stallings walks us around the First Cemetery – a beautiful sculpture park that reveals the Athenian way of death.
Poet A.E. Stallings reads her poem The Cenotaph: First Cemetery of Athens
Outside Pappios with Dimitris Pappios – pastry chef of kollyva or food for mourning the dead.
Kollyva – food for mourning the dead, made from boiled wheat, pomegranate, nuts, raisins, sugar and parsley.
Sofka calls up her koumbara (Georgina Solo, the mother of her goddaughter) to discuss why what anthropologists call ‘spiritual kinship’ is so important.
With cellist Chris Humphrys, to hear about his experiences of being baptised as an adult.
Chris Humphrys’ baptism took place inside Agios Pantaleimonas, one of the largest churches in the Balkans.