POTTERY TRADITION AND VRASKIA
TRADITIONAL BEEKEEPING IN MOVABLE-COMB HIVES
MARGARITES, RETHYMNO, CRETE
Margarites of Rethymno, Crete, was the centre of production of utilitarian ceramic vessels that supplied the region of Western Crete for centuries. Today, nineteen workshops/households continue to operate in Margarites, creating utilitarian and decorative ceramics inspired by the traditional forms and decoration of Margarites vessels, in many cases using local soils and applying ancient baking techniques in wood-fired kilns.
Source: Directorate of Modern Cultural Heritage, Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Photographs: George Mestousis
Narratives
The potters' vendemes in Margarites involve the seasonal making, transportation and sale of various types of pots throughout the area around the village, but also to the west, towards Chania, and south, towards Messara… Usually, in this system of work, each guild consisted of just 2 or 3 people. They did not travel to the east as much because other pottery centres addressed these needs - Thrapsano. In Thrapsano, the number of potters per guild was higher, and each guild stayed longer in its destination compared to Margarites. The potters would settle down in a specific site they planned to work, build their kiln and start producing on the spot. They also used animals and donkeys to transport various types of pots that they made in the village, including beekeeping pots, such as vraskia*, and smokers, and they traded them in kind.
*vraski: vertical movable-comb clay hive of Crete
MARIA PADOUVA
ETHNOLOGIST
The pourgoi* carried the soil, kneaded the clay, cut branches and carried them. During the firing, the kiln needed a lot of branches. We baked from morning until night and it was extremely hot - heat from the kiln, heat from the sun from above, it was exhausting. We made melokouroupes* with a special groove close to the rim in order to stop melitaki* from getting into the honey. Back when we made vraskia*, there weren't any wooden hives. The old potters went to villages where there was water, and make them there, so they wouldn't have to carry them. They would then transport them by donkey, down the narrow paths, which means that there were breakages on their way. They would walk from morning until night to get there, or even from night until morning, in order to sell them in the villages, to exchange in kind. They would go because they couldn't sell them easily. They would take them over there, build them and sell them in the surrounding area.
*pourgoi: potter's assistants
*melokouroupes: clay honey storage containers
*melitaki: ants
KOSTAS DANDOLOS
BEARER OF POTTERY TRADITION OF MARGARITES, MYLOPOTAMOS, CRETE