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Vlach Mythology Those raised in our cultural tradition know that the Vlachs have plenty of myths. Some of the most popular are about the origin of various tribes, villages, mountains, and monuments. Because our culture is primarily oral and not literary, and the vast majority of our people have traditionally been shy about identifying themselves as Vlachs, most of these myths have never been recorded. And yet, for the careful researcher, they are there to be found. Peter Asteriou, long the "poet laureate" of the Greek daily newspaper Ethnikos Kerix (National Herald), wrote a poem about the Vlach villages of his youth -- Tārnava and Magarova, in Slavic Macedonia -- just before he passed away in March, 1967. These two "towns" face each other at the foot of Mt. Peristeri and were almost destroyed during World War I. The poem reflects the deep conviction of Vlachs that their own village of origin is the best of all places, and it also integrates Christianity into what is essentially a pagan origin myth (the references to the Virgin Mary may mean that she was the patron saint of these villages; readers with information about this are encouraged to write us). Though the poem was composed with at least as much patriotism as art, and though Asteriou's English was far from perfect, this poem certainly qualifies as an origin myth. We reprint excerpts from it here, and we offer our thanks to Peter Asteriou's nephew, Dr. Socrates Asteriou of Washington, D.C. The Founding of Tyrnovon and Megarovon Glory and honor, superior and kind, From highest mountains, higher than on earth, With roaring, clanging, came stones immense, huge, The long procession, long in pace and time Toledo, Ohio -- January 17, 1967 -- Peter P. Asteriou |
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