Romania
TWO GIRLS WENT ABROAD FOR WORK
Description: Irina Alexe is telling a traditional fairy tale about an old man, an old woman and two stepsisters. One was good and hard-working, the other was idle. Since the old woman never really accepted her stepdaughter, she forced the old man’s daughter to leave their house and to search for work. After working hard, she returned with many gifts. So the mother sent her own idle daughter to work away, but she came back with nothing because she didn’t work. This story teaches us that the good things are gained only by hard work. At the end of the fairy tale, the story teller is reciting some lyrics which say that the narrator speaks from a very unusual place, admitting that this story maybe not entirely true. It is a common technique in Greek fairy tales that the narrator adds some funny lyrics instead of ending phrases. The language of this story is particularly valuable as the Thracian dialect is used completely unadulterated and without the influence of standard Greek.
Cite as: Ðĭo kurtsák'a pan na kǝzandísun – Two girls went abroad for work; performer: Irina Alexe; camera/ interview: Thede Kahl; transcription/ translation: Thede Kahl; Sotirios Rousiakis; editor: Antonio Fichera; retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID number: thra1248ROV0003a.
Greece
SAINT TRYPHON
Description: In the first quarter of the 20th century, Greeks from North Thrace (Eastern Rumelia), which is in present-day South Bulgaria, came and settled in many places in Greece. Among these places is Koufalia, a town in the Thessaloniki area in Central Macedonia. In this town, the biggest community is made up of descendants from the town of Kavakli, which is the present-day Topolovgrad, Bulgaria. Paschalis Nendidis describes the custom of Saint Tryphonʼs fest, or “Tryphanus”, as it is called in the Kavakli dialectal variety. The Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Tryphon on 1 February. Since the pruning of the vines take place around that time, people consider Saint Tryphon to be a patron saint of the vineyards. The Kavakli descendants in Koufalia continue this celebration today and do this special custom every year.
Cite as: I Trífanus – Saint Tryphon; performer: Paschalis Nendidis; camera/ interview: Sotirios Rousiakis; transcription: Thede Kahl, Sotirios Rousiakis; translation: Sotirios Rousiakis; editor: Ani Antonova; retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID number: thra1248GRV0035a.
THE DEAD WOLF
Description: In the first quarter of the 20th century, Greeks from Kavakli village in North Thrace, present-day Topolovgrad, Bulgaria, came and settled in Koufalia, a town near Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia. Paschalis Nendidis, a descendant of these settlers, tells us a short ''masali'', a funny story about a man in Kavakli who was silly and a coward. He found a dead wolf in the mountain and brought it to the village saying that he had killed it, so that everyone would believe he was a brave man. His wife did not believe it and she played a prank to learn the truth. Letʼs hear the story and see what finally happens.
Cite as: I psófçus i líkus – The dead wolf; performer: Paschalis Nendidis; camera/ interview: Sotirios Rousiakis; transcription: Thede Kahl, Sotirios Rousiakis; translation: Sotirios Rousiakis; editor: Ani Antonova; retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID number: thra1248GRV0034a.
MARIA THE VIXEN AND THE TALE OF THE HONEY
Description: This story is a funny fairy tale from the Thracian village of Lefkimmi (Soufli, Evros). With guile, a clever young fox succeeds in stealing honey without being punished. In Greek fairy tales the fox is characterized by cleverness. It usually is hungry, greedy and wants to steal food. In the Greek oral tradition the vixen is known as kira-Máro, Miss Mary. The local form is kila-Malu, probably formed by popular etymology from kiʎá (stomach). In this story, a person called κοιλανοίχτης (dialectal type [k'ilaɲíks]) wich means "the belly-opener" appears - the personalization of the fox's gluttony.
Cite as: Ι alpú i k'íla Málu k'i tu meʎ – Maria the vixen and the tale of the honey; performer: Dimitra Spyrou, camera: Thede Kahl, interview/ transcription/ translation: Thede Kahl, Sotirios Rousiakis, editor: Valentina Paul, retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID number: thra1248GRV0001a.
THE GHOST AND THE WOMAN
Description: These short stories about ghosts are recalled among a huge part of the Thracian Greek population. The grandmother and uncle of our interviewee told to her and her sisters this kind of stories. They heard them when they were young and their parents wanted to scary them and to be quiet.
Cite as: Tu ʃtçó k'i i kadɯ́na– The ghost and the woman; performer: Ζοgrafia Kambouroudi, camera/ interview: Thede Kahl, transcription/ translation: Sotirios Rousiakis, editor: Antonio Fichera, retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID-number: thra1248GRV0016a.