Klidonas is the custom of the girls , who want to be told their fate and fortune. The costum of Klidonas has its roots in ancient times. In Homer's time ,they used the magic of Klidonas to foretell the future. Later, in the Byzantine period ,we come across the costum as the worship of Helios. Similarly to nowadays ,fires were lit and the people jumped over them to purify the evil . Year by year Klidonas drops the characteristic of general clairvoyance and limits itself to love prophecies. Goddess Klidona silently withdraws and gives her place to St Ioannis , whose grace the people plead .

In Trikeri , on St John's day , girls get together in a group and go to the wells of the village , from where they get the " non speaking water " in their brassware. During the transfer the girls don't speak , although stout fellows skulking in the way try to make the girls speak by teasing them. If they do so ,Klidonas clairvoyance is lost . If the girls hear a name as long as they wander about in the alleys with the " non speaking water ", a prophecy it is for the fortune their fate reserves for them.

As soon as they arrive home , they lay down the brassware on the root of a tree or in the cellarage . Each girl throws in her " imprint " , which is a personal object such as a ring , a buttan , something that the girl herself can recognize as her own and then covers it with a red cloth out in the starligth until the following morning and until the Mass at the church is over .

The next day, after the Mass ,the group of the girls gets together again. When they arrive at the house where the braseware with the "imprints " has remained all night under the starlight ,they sit around it ,put the first-wedded girl in the middle and cover it. They then start taking the " imprints " out as follows :the poetesses, who know couplets or improvise at the time , chorus one such couplet. The time of the recitation the first- wedded girl takes an imprint from inside the brassware and raises it. The girl that recognizes it as her own , reaches out crying : "It's mine! It's mine!" If the couplet is a nice one ,commotion rises among the girls and the " lucky one " is congratulated on her good fortune. This process is repeated until all the "imprints " are out of the braseware. If the couplet that Klidonas destines for the girl is not a good one, the most likely is that she will not reach out for her "imprint", which will remain unclaimed for after being raised from the brassware.

The couplets that take the imprints out of the brassware are called " rizikaria ". There are thousands of those. They may be old couplets that pass down fron generation to generation or they can even be couplets of modern songs. The first couplet with which Klidonas opens says:

"We are opening the Klidonas on St John's grace
and whatever the fate , the rizikari will say."

copyright 2006 Interart Adv