THE MINOS CENTURY CELEBRATION AND HISTORY OF CRETANS IN UTAH Authored by TNH Staff Published in The National Herald - June 2, 2018 (Note:  HGG has the permission of The National Herald to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.) ----- SALT LAKE CITY, UT – The Cretan community of Utah will host a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the formal establishment of their local Cretan organization, the Minos Century Celebration, June 1-3.  Minos Chairman Dr. Tony Gianoulis told The National Herald that “the Cretan community in Utah has a very large presence. Many Cretans came to Utah at the turn of the 20th century to work in the copper mines. As the years went by, more and more Cretans immigrated to Utah and established their families, homes, and businesses here. Today, we are one of the largest Cretan communities in the United States. Moreover, we are proud of the fact that Utah had the first organized Cretan club in all of the Uni...

published in CretanBeaches.com Near the villages of Episkopi and Mourtzana, in a lush green valley, we still see the ruins of the houses and the watermills of the village Mousses or Moussi. In this village we meet the five watermills that took advantage of the abundant water of the area for grinding grain of the surrounding villages. The mills operated till the 1950s, when the modern technology surpassed the traditional way of grinding. Thus, the millers who saw their job diminishing, had to leave this wonderful place and seek their future elsewhere. The village houses were supplied with running water, which is very special for their time, while there was also a grocery store. In the center stands the well preserved church of the Holy Cross (TImios Stavros). The feast of the Holy Cross on September 14 is an excellent opportunity for locals to meet here. The temple is very old, as the entrance still preserves and inscription of 1843 for its renovation, thus it was already very ...

published in CretanBeaches.com During the Venetian era, according to oral tradition, there were three rich nobles from Sitia that  moved to the west end of Lasithi, in the province of Mirabello. They founded three small villages, one for each of them. Noble named Fiorentzis built the current settlement of Fioretzides by Lakonia. Demetzos (De Metzo) founded the village Agia Pelagia. Katrinis built Lousestro. Lousestro or otherwise Agios Ioannis gets its name after the hill Loutsi near the village which is taken after the Latin lux, meaning light. Lousestro belongs to the former community of Limnes and is currently almost deserted with only two elderly residents. Almost all villagers were named Katrinis after their founder. The second name, St. John comes from the village temple dedicated to St John Chrysostom. Shortly after the temple at the entrance of the village we meet one of very common cisterns of the area of Pano Mirabello for storing rainwater. In the same area we ...

published in CretanBeaches.com Dyo Prini (Two Oak trees) is one of the beautiful abandoned villages of Crete, where you think that time has frozen. The area is surrounded by oak trees, as its name implies, and is located close to Limnes village, Agios Nikolaos Municipality, on the road heading to Kalos Lakkos. There are several collapsed stone cottages, some of which have been restored lately. There are many water tanks and threshing plateaus. There are many more abandoned settlements around, such as Agia Pelagia, Drakos, Kalos Kalos, Atzibraga, Renaido and Lousetro. To view photographs of the village -  https://www.cretanbeaches.com/en/tradition/architecture/abandoned-settlements-villages/dio-prini-ruined-village

published in CretanBeaches.com Shortly after the village Mousouta there is the deserted village Handrou. This is another unknown beautiful Cretan village that once throbbed with life but today looks haunted, with only one resident. The village is situated in a prominent location with beautiful views and is surrounded by two streams. There is the two-aisled stone church of the Holy Apostles and St. John the Theologian. A few yards north of the chapel lies the old village fountain with the troughs where the women washed their clothes. Nearby, there is a lush green stream with plane trees and gardens. The stream is a tributary of the River Kassaniotis, which in turn is a tributary of Anapodaris. The name of the village possible originates from the first settler calles Handras and there is a report (since 1577) with the name Chandru. During the German occupation it played a very important role and was a rebel hideout. Because visitors do not usually find anybody here, in the center...

EXPLORE THE DESERTED VILLAGE OF KALAMI, CRETE "Once a populous beautiful village where residents used to enjoy the sorrows of life.  Today, this place is forgotten by everyone.  Visitors will encounter open doors and windows, houses remains with objects scattered on the floors and dishes and glasses in position ready to be used again. "The smell of abandonment and melancholy has gripped the village decades ago.  Located 80 kilometers east of Heraklion city in Crete, near Ano Viannos village, this is the village of Kalami.  It is a village set in magnificent scenery, surrounded from mountains, rivers, rivers and dense vegetation, which makes you wonder why they left deserted. "Over 150 families used to inhabit in Kalami before its desertification in the 1970s.  The people gradually came down to the south coast, looking for a better life in Psari Forada and Arvi.  Today, the village remains are the most characteristic monument of rural exodus and has...

Names of people pictured are listed at bottom of this page PANCRETAN ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA CONGRESS IN SALT LAKE CITY GLOWS WITH PRIDE Published in The National Herald, July 18-24, 2015 Issue Authored by Chrysoula Tzortzaki Special to The National Herald ------------------------------ We are excited to announce that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ SALT LAKE CITY, UT - The heart of Crete always beats in Salt Lake City, but it beat more strongly than ever June 27 to July 2, when approximately 1,000 Cretans from across the country gathered for the 44th Congress of the Pancretan Association of America. Right from the start participants understood the purpose of the convention was to strengthen ties with Crete and to present the noble history and the traditions of the Cretans in Utah. The Cretans of Uta...

Part of the process of making linen thread... A Cretan woman rubbing the dried linen grass down a board across a circle of nails to separate the filaments..... This photograph is being shared from a Facebook post by our HellenicGenealogyGeek.com friend Helene Semanderes.  Source of original photograph unknown.

Links to the HISTORICAL ARCHIVES OF CRETE, General State Archives of Greece (GAK) Historical Archives of Crete - (Greek) Historical Archives of Crete - (English) You will be able to read about the history of the archives in Crete, contact and location information and a description of the archives and collections.  I have duplicated the portion describing the archives and collections below: The archives of the Historical Archive of Crete covering all Crete (hence the name of the Service), estimated at about 700,000 extremely important documents and other documents, from 1821 until today.   The material is sorted and recorded in material books, cards, catalogs and special indexes.   In more than 170 archival collections of the Service, including: - Archives of Cretan Revolutions - official correspondence 1821 - 1830, 1866 -1869, 1877-1878, 1895-1898, and the Movement Therisso 1905. - Private archival collections relating to various periods of Creta...

DUTY, HONOR AND COURAGE OF CRETAN FAMILIES By Catherine Tsounis Published by GreekReporter.com on November 13, 2014 “The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage.” - Thucydides (460 BC – 395 BC), Greek Historian. Nikos Douroudakis and Stavros Katsoulakis from Queens, New York, immigrants from Sfakia, Crete, related incredible stories of heroism and perseverance in peace and war. Crete has untold stories of heroism rarely discussed.  Douroudakis holds a Certificate and the National Resistance Hero Medal given to his late father, Sifis Douroudakis, prominently displayed in his living room. The National Resistance medal “was in support of the government against powers who wanted to destroy Greece,” said Douroudakis. “There was no Civil War in Sfakia, Crete. Action was only in Athens and the big cities. We had Vendetta.” In the blockbuster mini-series “Tis Agapis Maheria” (The Knifing of Love), a police officer said to a Cretan “we must follow ...

CRETAN VILLAGE HOSTS MUSEUM OF GREEK RURAL HISTORY by Ioanna Zikakou Published in GreekReporter - Greece on October 20, 2014 Arolithos is a unique, traditional Cretan village. It lies just 11 kilometers away from Heraklion, along the old national road connecting it with Rethymnon. Built on a mountain slope, in the wild Cretan landscape, the village is a feast for the eyes, evoking memories from the past for older generations, regarding their way of living, while revealing the simplicity and beauty of old times to younger generations. The Museum of Rural History and Popular Art in the Greek village of Arolithos includes two old traditional houses which represent rural life, architecture and decoration of people in areas around Crete during the 19th century. - Read the entire article: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/10/20/cretan-village-hosts-museum-of-greek-rural-history/#sthash.Bju9TPsT.dpuf

Thanks to Helene Semanderes for posting a link this article on Facebook and bringing it to my attention. RESIDENTS OF SMALL CRETAN VILLAGE MAKE REBUILDING IT THEIR BUSINESS by Yiannis Papadopoulos Published October 13, 2014 on ekathimerini.com Giorgos Koutentakis could never have imagined that one day he’d be able to return to his family home. It was, after all, in complete ruins. The roof had collapsed into a pile of tiles and the walls had become home to dozens of crows. Like every other family in the village of Ethia on the Asterousia Mountains in Iraklio, Crete, his had left decades ago. Over the years, their houses started to crumble and the village population, which had once numbered in the hundreds, dwindled to single digits. You can’t count on signposts to find Ethia – there are none. The first traces of the village lie some 50 kilometers outside Iraklio, over a freshly tarred road leading from the hamlet of Rotasi. Ethia is one of Greece’s southernmos...

THE MEDIATORS OF CRETE'S WARRING FAMILIES - Mountain people uphold a tradition that seeks to prevent family vendettas Published by eKathimerini.com on September 17, 2014, written by Yiannis Papadopoulos The elderly highlander with the thick mustache knows he must be wary of what he says. And so what if he never finished elementary school? In the streets of Livadia he has the power to change people’s minds. “We are mountain men here. We are generous and honorable, but we are also proud and will not tolerate being insulted. This often results in situations that can also lead to murder,” he says when I meet him at a coffee shop in the village. Christos Chnaris is an 85-year-old livestock farmer who has also served as president of the local agricultural cooperative. For the people of Livadia, however, he has always stood out for his ability to keep a cool head and ever since the 1960s they have been asking him to step in and solve differences between them. In this vil...

This is an interesting article published by Hellas Frappe today (February 24, 2014. The Cretans of Al Hamidiyah in Syria "Al Hamidiyah is a town on the coastal Syrian line about 3km from the Lebanese border. The town was founded in a very short time on direct orders from the Turkish Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Hamid II circa 1897, to serve as refuge for the Muslim Cretans fleeing the ethnic cleansing in Crete in the aftermath of the departure of Turkish troops from the island. The town is home to about 5000 people, with the majority still speaking Cretan Greek (with a distinctive Cretan accent) in their daily lives. Crete fell to the Turks in the sixteenth century, after long and stubborn resistance from the Venetians who had ruled the island until then. In the following centuries, many Cretans changed their religion, converting to the doctrines of Islam and becoming Alevites, the dominant religious sect among the Turks. In those days, it was not uncommon for people to change religi...

This photo is courtesy of Helene Semanderes who brought it to my attention on Facebook. Froso Gryllaki (musician) playing "askomantoura" from Arhanes, Crete Φρόσω Γρυλλάκη, μουσικός ασκομαντούρας από Αρχάνες.... --------------------- The Askomantoura is a bagpipe made out of the skin of a lamb. You can read some interesting information about the Askomantoura on the following music folklore link - http://www.kretakultur.dk/english/folklore/music/bagpipe.htm

Originally posted by the Greek News Agenda - Monday, May 27, 2013 "A new documentary unfolding the history of the Xylouris family, Crete's leading musical clan, is currently in progress in Greece and Australia. . . . . . ."   Read entire article

ARCHDIOCESE OF CRETE Website includes contact information for all Greek churches on the Island of Crete

The book "Crete - The Battle and the Resistance"  by Antony Beevor was published in 1994 by Westview Press. Below you will find the Table of Contents along with a list of the Names mentioned in the book.   This book is available through the U.S. Inter-library loan program, you can work with your local library to obtain a copy. ---------- CONTENTS PART ONE:  THE FALL OF GREECE 1.  Military Missions 2. Diplomatic Missions 3. Secret Missions 4. The Double Invasion 5. Across the Aegean PART TWO:  THE BATTLE OF CRETE 6.  A Second Scapa 7.  The Spear-point of the German Lance 8.  Most Secret Sources 9.  A Fine Opportunity for Killing 10.  Maleme and Prison Valley 11.  Close Quarters at Rethymno and Heraklion 12.  First Night and Second Day 13.  The Seaborne Invasion 14.  Disaster by Land and by Sea 15.  Stalemate at Rethymno and Heraklion 16.  The Battle of Galatas 17.  L...