The so-called "Western culture", in a nutshell, is the "two Greek cultures" - "Greek" and "Hebrew". Roaming in the land of Greece is such a roaming in two texts that begin Chinese the Chinese character "Xi". Hebrew and Greek, since Platonism and "Neo-Platonism", have an intrinsic connection of fate. On the day of the Greek Carnival, let us experience the interplay and inner context of these two civilizations.
Glaxidi (Γαλαξίδι) is a small fishing village on the coast in Greece, two and a half hours drive from Athens, across the sea from Delphi, 15 kilometers from Delphi, is a white village overlooking Delphi during the day, and is a brightly lit place in Delphi at night through the dark olive groves. Chinese called this village "Galaxy Village", taking its root meaning: "Milky Way".
Here, is the "flour war" of Galaxy Village.
Every year the Greek traditional religious festival "Clean Monday", the annual "flour war" in Galaxy Village attracts people from all over the world. People come from all over Israel, Africa, Russia, and Asia to participate in such an annual human event. Such a festival has a Greek name: Αλευρομουτζούρωμα, which literally means "war of flour".
It is a festival that can be traced back to ancient Greek traditions and Christian traditions, and its colorful cultural elements allow people today to see a variety of different spiritual origins. the ranks of Dionysus, the god of wine, the ranks of the mad women of Dionysus; Foucault's Christian tradition of the "ship of fools", Hugo's carnival atmosphere of Notre Dame de Paris, and even more mysterious ancient Greek Erefsina (Eleusses) secret procession... Madness and civilization, reason and intoxication, sun god and bacchus, everyday and very...
All kinds of colorful flour connect people from all over the world in a mysterious and warm way, people throw flour at each other, different races, different genders are instantly bridged here, all boundaries are broken at this moment, in the Galaxy Village, the flour flying in the air makes the Galaxy Village a special place of spiritual fusion, and all the people in the entire Galaxy Village are joyful, as if they come from a big family of the same blood.
The dust of flour floated above the Milky Way Village, and all the people who came to this village were covered and baptized with this dust. Galaxy Village, floating is the rich smell of steamed steamed buns, the waters of Collins Bay are quiet under the boat, and the Galaxy Village at an altitude of 4 meters, this time is the smell of the land.
People in Galaxy Village will surely return home to bathe and change clothes after such baptism, which is the tradition of this "flour war" that affirms the definition of "clean" in the opposite way. All adults are purified in such a hearty moment of "out-of-body", this crazy, multiplied parade, you are no longer you, you are another person.
The children are among them, the children are incomparably pure, they do not need purification, their clear eyes, their clean bodies, the flowers in this procession, the colored flour cannot stain the children, they are the true priests in this strange ritual.
Not far away is Delphi, the navel of the world, the place where the two eagles of Zeus meet, the place of worship of the sun god Apollo, and everything that happens here is illuminated by the light of Apollo's reason.
This ritual is a rare miracle in the world, and people who are related to Greece can come here to experience and feel such a ritual, which is a pathetic effort to go back to the past in modern life, and people are intoxicated and fascinated by their respective gods, but the name of that god has not yet been called, and the face of that god has not yet been cleansed.
The annual "Flour War" in Galaxy Village is a secret ritual of modern people, and every year a new god is born in this great war, waiting for people to give birth. Or quickly enter nature, transform shapes, be temporarily stored, or have been born, and quickly die, turn into seawater, and turn into nothing.
The "flour war" in Galaxy Village, we who are modern, are worth experiencing once in a lifetime. Through the mutual throwing of such colored flour, we are able to heal the wounds between us and time.
The flour battle in Galaxy Village is another milky way by the sea.
Text / Yang Shaobo