![]() This weekend from May 21 through May 23 the unusual ancient folklore and legend of fire-walking lives on in Greece. Dating back to Pagan times, Anastenaria is a traditional ritual of fire-walking celebrated in a few places in Northern Greece and in southern Bulgaria, where Greek descendants from Thrace settled in 1923. This compelling work evokes and contrasts two forms of firewalking and religious healing: first, the Anastenaria, a northern Greek ritual in which people who are possessed by Saint Constantine dance dramatically over red-hot coals, and, second, American firewalking, one of the more spectacular activities of New Age psychology. It was also practiced in classical Greece and in ancient India and China. Every year the Bulgarian and Greek villages if Aghia Eleni near Serres, Langada near Thessaloniki, Kerkini near Serres, some villages on the coast of Evros River and a singular small village near the city of Drama perform this unique annual ritual in celebration with the name days of Saint Constantine and Saint Helen.Īlong with the fire-walking ritual, the 3-day festival has various processions, music, dancing and an animal sacrifice. fire walking, religious ceremony practiced in many parts of the world, including the Indian subcontinent, Malaya, Japan, China, Fiji Islands, Tahiti, Society Islands, New Zealand, Mauritius, Bulgaria, and Spain. On the eve of the feasts of Saints Constantine and Helen, while trancelike rhythms of beating drums sound in the background, the Anastenarides take part in dances during which they believe that they are “seized” by the saints, and enter a state of trance. During this trance, they carry the icons of saints Constantine and Helen and dance ecstatically for hours before walking barefoot across hot coals that can reach as hot as 535 degrees Celsius. The roots of this tradition are seeped in mystery and a bit of controversy as well. The Anastenarides say that the origin of the ritual lies in a fire which took place at Kosti, near the Black Sea in the thirteenth century which set ablaze the church of Saint Constantine. ![]() As the empty church burned, the villagers claimed to hear cries coming from the flames and believed that they were cries from the icons, calling out for help. ![]() Some villagers ran into the burning building to rescue them, and returned with the icons - both the human protectors and icons were not burned nor hurt in any way. The fire walkers here are called nestinarstvo (from the Greek word estia, meaning ‘hearth’. This occurrence prompted the annual celebration which the Anastenaria holds to honor their safe delivery. However, many scholars do not believe this to be the true origin of the Anastenaria rituals. It is largely believed that the ceremony is the survival of an ancient Thracian Dionysian ritual which was later given a superficial Christian interpretation to help receive a better reception from the Greek Orthodox church, which does not support the rituals as they are viewed as pagan. The Anastenaria are Orthodox Christians in Northern Greece who observe a unique annual ritual cycle focused on two festivals, dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. Our online platform, Wiley Online Library () is one of the world’s most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.This hasn’t stopped the Anastenarides from celebrating their age old tradition. With a growing open access offering, Wiley is committed to the widest possible dissemination of and access to the content we publish and supports all sustainable models of access. Wiley has partnerships with many of the world’s leading societies and publishes over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols in STMS subjects. Wiley has published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. The book begins with a brief introduction to fire-walking rituals with a specific focus on the Greek fire-walking tradition. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley is a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions in areas of scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly research professional development and education.
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