"The Goatmen (and Women) of Skyros" article published in The Athenian 1992
The Goatmen (and Women) of Skyros - Away from the mainland compulsion to change and conform, some special customs have been preserved on Skyros. Goat Dancing or Dionysiac cult? - article written by Anne Peters, published in The Athenian, March 1, 1992.
"We should have known we were in for something out of the ordinary. On our first trip to Skyros, newly arrived, Saturday evening, all our enquiries about the return boat to Kymi on Monday (Kathari Deftera/CIean Monday) were met with evasive smiles, and a vague “Well maybe, but then again maybe not!” In the event, the ticket office remained stubbornly closed until Monday evening, and the rickety Anemoessa (now in semi-retirement on a trunk line in the Dodecanese and replaced by the possibly more punctual Lykomedes) didn’t run. This, it turned out, was not entirely due to snow…
For much longer than anyone can remember, throughout Apokries, but especially on Tyrinis, or Cheese Sunday – so-called as it is the last day on which cheese may be eaten before Lent begins on Kathari (Clean) Monday – the young men of Skyros have dressed up, or disguised themselves (the Greek metamphiezo carries both meanings) as yen, literally ‘old men’. The most striking feature of their dress, which transforms them from man into half-beast, is the mask: the skin of a still-born kid, pulled up over the face with two eyeholes cut, the head dangling like a sort of trunk on the wearer’s chest. Around the head and torso is worn the traditional black Macedonian woollen shepherd’s jacket, inside (hairy-side) out, with a pillow or rags stuffed up the back to give an appearance of a hump. The hood is secured with a long white shepherd’s belt, knotted at the back and crossed over at the shoulders, the two ends joined at the front with a colorful handkerchief. By means of ropes, as many as 70 or 80 copperplated goat bells (depending on the stamina of the wearer) are attached around the yeros’ waist, suspended from the wooden collar, with the larger bells at the back and the smaller ones at the front. On his legs, the yeros wears traditional white woollen trousers, white leggings, and trohadia, thonged Skyrian shepherd’s sandals, very reminiscent of ancient Greek sandals except that, nowadays, the sole is often, more practically perhaps, made from an old car tire rather than leather. No yeros’ costume is complete without the shepherd’s crook, which he uses to steady himself or to juggle in the air and poke at onlookers."........
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