CORNUS MAS – ΚΡΑΝΙΑ
Trees play an important role in the life of the villagers. One of them, Cornus mas accompanies many different aspects of peoples’ life in the greek countryside. After going away on a journey, relatives would put a sprig of Cornus mas on the door of the traveler’s house so that they would be safe and as strong as the twig itself. On New Year’s Day, people put a twig the size of a matchstick on the New Year’s cake, wishing for health and strength all year round. Young children, when losing their baby teeth, adviced by their parents, throw them on the roof of the house and say a local pun, asking for as stong teeth as the sticks of Cornus mas.
From the collection of K. Lazaridis