Anastenaria

English

Etymology

Ancient Greek ἀναστένω (anasténō, “groan aloud”)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

Anastenaria

1. A religious ritual performed in Southern Bulgaria and Northern Greece involving trance and dancing on fire.
   • 1954, Anne Gault Antoniades, The Anastenaria: Thracian Firewalking Festival - Issue 36, page 2:

     The author, Mrs. Anne Gault Antoniades, an American long resident in Greece and familiar with its language, is competent to write about the Anastenaria not only because she can give an eyewitness account of the festival, but particularly by virtue of her keen interest in the Greek people and the study she has made of their folkways.

   • 2015, Roumen Daskalov, Alexander Vezenkov, Entangled Histories of the Balkans, →ISBN:

     The insistence that the Anastenaria was so archaic—that its worldview preceded the Hellenic gods—actually “internationalized” the custom.

   • 2016, Peter Loizos, Evthmios Papataxiarchis, Contested Identities: Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece, →ISBN, page 109:

     These kerchiefs symbolized the bond uniting husband and wife, as in the context of the Anastenaria they symbolize the bond between Saint Constantine and the possessed Anastenarissa.

Derived terms

• Anastenaride
• Anastenarissa