Month: November 2018

The Mastic Museum, Chios island, Greece

On By toultoulineIn Chios island, Greece, Mastiha1 Comment
Mastic trees
Mastic trees

The time of the year has arrived when the many mastiha (mastic) producers of southern Chios have already collected and washed the resin drops from the mastic trees and are now cleaning them one drop (tear) by one drop (tear) at a time. This will take a few months.

Cleaning mastiha
Cleaning mastiha

When I made the blog post about mastiha and the museum, last October (https://toultouline.com/2017/10/20/the-mastic-gum-of-chios-greece/) the video I just discovered did not exist. It is about the Mastic Museum and it shows the whole setup beautifully. You can see the rows of cultivated mastic trees around the museum.  So here it is:

But not all mastic trees are cultivated. There are still many left in their natural state.

Uncultivated mastic trees
Uncultivated mastic trees

 

 

 

The web of life

On By toultoulineIn Kilims, Peloponnese, WeavingLeave a comment
Old kilim. Stemnitsa, Peloponnese, Greece
Old kilim. Stemnitsa, Peloponnese, Greece

In an old 1950s book I found the following description of the web of life. The writer is unknown:

“Life is a loom and we are the weavers: the strong, sweet principles of truth and honesty and justice are the warp, and our thoughts and deeds — carried to and fro in the swiftly moving shuttles — make up the wool; and the woven web is the life eternal. For the Master Weaver is the Lord of Love, and He sets the patterns, simple or complex, according to our ability, and lays the formula before us, and leaves us to our task. OURS IS TO SPOIL THE WEB OR WEAVE IT INTO TRANSCENDENT BEAUTY.”

P.S. The photos of the two kilims were made in the winter of 1983 in Stemnitsa, Peloponnese, Greece. It was cleaning day at the church and the kilims were brought outside. Two very nice ladies held them up for the photos. The kilims were already at least 50 years old. And for the weavers among us, they were woven on a horizontal loom in two strips sewn together and for weft, they had used naturally dyed local wool. The loom in the photo at the top is a Stathatos loom.

Kilim. Stemnitsa, Peloponnese, Greece
Kilim. Stemnitsa, Peloponnese, Greece