THE CULTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE MANDRA SYSTEM OF LEMNOS: A NARRATIVE APPROACH terra lemnia project / STRATEGY 1.3 / ACTIVITY 1.3.1 Editors: IRINI LYRATZAKI Social Anthropologist STEFANOS DODOURAS Sustainability Consultant Updated Version GEORGE DIMITROPOULOS Planner, Terra Lemnia Project Manager July 2020 LILY MORDECHAI Social and Environmental Scientist THE CULTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE MANDRA SYSTEM OF LEMNOS: A NARRATIVE APPROACH terra lemnia project / STRATEGY 1.3 / ACTIVITY 1.3.1 Updated Version July 2020 EDITORS: IRINI LYRATZAKI Social Anthropologist STEFANOS DODOURAS Sustainability Consultant GEORGE DIMITROPOULOS Planner, Terra Lemnia Project Manager LILY MORDECHAI Social and Environmental Scientist Coordinated by: Funded by: terra lemnia project | www.terra-lemnia.net MAVA 2017-2022 Mediterranean Strategy Outcome M6 Loss of biodiversity by abandonment of cultural practices TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 2. Lemnos, a land of heritage .............................................................................................. 5 2.1 Notable milestones .......................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Settlements’ history ........................................................................................................ 9 2.3 Population evolution in the 20th century ....................................................................... 12 2.4 Migration ....................................................................................................................... 16 2.5 Employment .................................................................................................................. 18 3. The Mandra System of Lemnos ..................................................................................... 21 3.1 The basic structures of the mandra ............................................................................... 22 3.1.1 Main elements and types of mandras ........................................................................... 23 3.1.2 Construction materials and techniques ......................................................................... 26 3.2 Ownership status of the mandra and the role of kehaghias......................................... 30 3.2.1 Ownership status ........................................................................................................... 30 3.2.2 The role of kehaghias .................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Spatial organisation of the mandra system ................................................................... 35 3.4 Life in the mandra ......................................................................................................... 39 3.4.1 Division of labour and daily tasks .................................................................................. 39 3.4.2 The cycle of practices in the mandra around the year .................................................. 40 Winter .............................................................................................................................. 41 Spring ............................................................................................................................... 42 Summer............................................................................................................................ 43 Autumn ............................................................................................................................ 44 3.5 Cultivations and traditional agricultural activities ......................................................... 45 3.5.1 Cultivations of the past .................................................................................................. 47 Tobacco............................................................................................................................ 47 Cotton .............................................................................................................................. 47 Sesame ............................................................................................................................. 49 3.5.2 Contemporary cultivations ............................................................................................ 50 Cereals ............................................................................................................................. 50 Viticulture ........................................................................................................................ 52 Afkos (Lathyrus ochrus) and lafyri/lathouri (lathyrus sativus) ........................................ 53 Aspromytiko bean (Vigna unguiculata) ........................................................................... 55 3.6 Household economy and traditional products .............................................................. 56 3.6.1 Bread making ................................................................................................................. 56 3.6.2 Cheese making ............................................................................................................... 57 1 Kalathaki cheese .............................................................................................................. 57 Melipasto cheese ............................................................................................................. 57 Production and distribution ............................................................................................. 59 3.6.3 Flomaria and aftoudia.................................................................................................... 60 3.6.4 Pies ................................................................................................................................. 60 3.6.5 Dried figs ........................................................................................................................ 61 3.6.6 Traditional sweets ......................................................................................................... 62 3.6.7 Wild Edible plants .......................................................................................................... 62 3.6.8 Mills ............................................................................................................................... 63 3.7 Customs and supportive elements of the Mandra System ........................................... 63 3.7.1 Language ........................................................................................................................ 63 3.7.2 Music and dances .......................................................................................................... 64 3.7.3 Traditional kehaghias costume ..................................................................................... 64 3.7.4 Bantatzoudes (gobblins – 5th of January) ..................................................................... 65 3.7.5 Planting and reaping customs ....................................................................................... 66 3.7.6 Mandra rituals ............................................................................................................... 67 3.7.7 Folk stories ..................................................................................................................... 67 3.7.8 Traditional occupations ................................................................................................. 68 3.7.9 Folk Medicine - Lemnian Earth (Terra Lemnia) ............................................................. 68 4. The Mandra System of Lemnos as a vehicle for sustainable development in the 21st century ........................................................................................................................... 70 4.1 The Mandra System in the present context .................................................................. 70 4.2 Building a successful strategy for local development ................................................... 72 4.3 Paving the way through the Terra Lemnia project ........................................................ 76 5. References ..................................................................................................................... 78 6. Indicative bibliography .................................................................................................. 83 7. ANNEXES ........................................................................................................................ 87 Annex I - Lemnian glossary/dialect.......................................................................................... 87 ANNEX II: Indicative list of local fairy-tales about the kehaghias, the mandra and the local nature and culture ......................................................................................................... 97 Annex III - Interviews on the cultural aspects of Mandra – April 2019 ................................... 98 2 1. INTRODUCTION …because one must produce, one must by all possible means of activity re- place nature wherever it can be replaced […] new fields of activity must be created, in which we shall see at last the reign of all the fake manufactured products, of all the vile synthetic substitutes in which beautiful real nature