haunts and habits were so familiar to the people of Chios that two
proverbs of the island referred to them. One, which was addressed to
persons always appearing in the same clothes--βάλλε τίποτε καινούριο
ἀπάνω σου διὰ τοὺς καλλικαντζάρους, ‘put on something new because of
the Callicantzari’--is more than a little obscure; it would seem to
imply that the clothes which were being worn would hardly be worth
the while even of the mischief-loving Callicantzari to tear; but in
any case the very existence of an obscure proverb is evidence that
the Callicantzaros and all his ways had long been a matter of common
knowledge. The second saying--ἐκατέβης ἀπὸ τὰ τριποτάματα, ‘You have
come down from the Three Streams,’ or in another version, δὲν πᾶς ’στα
τριποτάματα; ‘Why not go to the Three Streams?’--was addressed to mad
persons, because, as Allatius explains, ‘the Three Streams’ was a
wild wooded place in Chios reputed to be the haunt of Callicantzari.
Historically then the theory that the people of Chios borrowed from the
Turks the name and the conception of the Callicantzari is untenable.
Another piece of historical evidence against Schmidt’s theory is
that the Callicantzaros of the present day appears to be identical
with the ‘baboutzicarios’ whereof Michael Psellus[580] discoursed in
the eleventh century. He himself indeed, with his usual passion for
explaining away popular superstitions, affirms that ‘baboutzicarios’
is the same as ‘ephialtes,’ the demon who punishes gluttony with
nocturnal discomfort and a feeling of oppression; and in that view he
was followed by Suidas[581] and other lexicographers; but he states
two important points in the popular superstition which he combats: the
‘baboutzicarios’ appears only in the octave of Christmas; and it is at
night that he meets and terrifies men. Moreover the name itself is, I
suspect, derived from the Low-Latin _babuztus_[582] meaning ‘mad,’ and
indicates the existence then of the belief which is so largely held
to-day, that the monstrous apparitions of Christmastide are really men
smitten with a peculiar kind of madness. Thus all the information which
Psellus gives about the ‘baboutzicarios’ tallies with modern beliefs
concerning the Callicantzaros, and militates against the supposition
that the Greeks are indebted for this superstition to the Turks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account