LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

The Social Being of the Aromâni... 241
this was his life, and he would cheerfully endure any hardship, except
that of riding in a land rover, the contrast of whose motion with that
of his horse soon induced car sickness. In summer he long continued to
roam the pastures and villages of Smolikas with his mules, and in winter he
descended to his lowland village of Ambelona larisis in northern thessaly,
where he now lies.
Costas tahikas’ little stone house was one of the oldest in the village
[he claimed for it 400 years, which is not more than many Cotswold
cottages]. Compact though it was, not to say cramped, he was generous
with his hospitality. It lay immediately beneath the terrace of the grassy
plateia of the church of Samarina, whose famous pine tree grew on the apse
as it had done in the time of Wace and thompson [1912]. here generations
of the young dance the hora at festivals.
hora of palikaria on the grassy plateia of Samarina church, 1977.
When the older men in longer fustanella join in to lead the solemn
procession, wheeling in a great circle around the green, the whole social
structure of the village is encapsulated in the precedences of the dance.
they are followed by the other men in order of social priority, then the
women. Groups of children and guests watch separately. the ring dances of
the Aromâni and the hora in romania are not frantic exhibitions of vulgar
folklore, but rituals of great solemnity and dignity, expressive of social
cohesion. In touching homage to the values of romanian culture this dance