The annual celebration - an institution for the Mother and Father of the Women's Association of Seeds "Proodos" was held with great success this year, with Katerina Marinaki as the keynote speaker.
With great success and a large turnout of Spoites, who filled the welcoming hall of the Ecclesiastical Palace of Spoi, Karpathos, the annual celebration – institution for the Mother and the Father, organized by the active Spoi Women’s Association “Proodos”, took place this year. The event, which was initially scheduled, as always, for June, but was finally held in July, due to great mourning in the village, was honored with their presence by: Reverend Fr. Stylianos Fasoulas – Pastor of the parish church of St. George Spoi, Fr. George Livaditis – priest at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Fr. Thomas Bartz, priest at the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in Corpus Christi, the Deputy Mayor of Technical Works, Infrastructure and Spatial Planning-Urban Organization Theocharoula Dimarchou, the President of the Municipal Community of Spoi Michalis Diakolios, the Local Advisors of Spoi Yiannis Dimarchou and Manos Annousis, the President of the Karpathos Branch of the Institute of Popular Culture Elias Emm. Vasilaras, the President of the “Agios Georgios” Association of Corpus Christi Texas Vasilis Maragakis, the Vice President of the “Agios Georgios” Association of Spoi of Karpathos North & South Carolina Emmanuel Ioan. Tsambounieris and Penelope Tsambounieri, Member of the Board of Directors of the “Agios Georgios” Association of Spoi of Karpathos Cleveland Ohio.
The General Secretary of the Association, Irini Chalkia, announced the program of the celebration, which included poetry recitations by children of Spoi, both expatriates and not, the keynote speech of the day (in full in the video below) by the journalist - publisher and PhD Candidate in History - Ethnology of the Democritus University of Thrace, Katerina El. Marinaki, the awards of the honored Mothers and Fathers and finally a screening of photographs - with the valuable assistance of Fr. Stylianou - on the theme of Karpathos, from the archive of Katerina Marinaki. Then, the Secretary invited the indefatigable President of the Association, Fani Maragaki, to the podium, who, in her greeting to the hundreds of participants in the modest and impeccably organized event, emphasized, among other things: “We thank all of you for honoring us with your presence and for helping in any way to make this celebration happen, which concerns the two most important people in the lives of each of us, Mother and Father, our Guardian Angels!” She did not fail to remind us that this particular celebration was established during the Presidency of the late Dina El. Vasilara, who passed away so prematurely, while being the current President of the Women's Association of Seeds “Proodos”. Also characteristic is the excerpt from the many -full of emotions- mantinades, composed and recited by President Fani Maragaki herself:
Our Mother, our Father
our two pillars,
away from us in thorns
They marched like soldiers.
Fani Maragaki also thanked all the honored Mothers and Fathers who responded to the call of the Women's Association, for which, as she emphasized, it is a great honor to have the opportunity, which is given to it every year, to honor them in its own way. She also thanked all the children, who are the future of the world and who brightened this year's celebration with their recitations and poems, as well as their parents, as well as the families of the honorees - and not only -, for the donations they offered to the Association. Warm thanks were also extended to the main speaker of the event, Katerina El. Marinaki, emphasizing her special love for Karpathos and the Spoa, given that she has studied the rich work of the renowned researcher of Carpathian folklore, Elias Emm. Vasilaras, in the context of preparing her thesis for the Master's degree in Folklore from the University of Athens.
For the provision of the sumptuous meal, which completed this event, which was perfectly orchestrated in every detail, she thanked the family of Vasilis and Alexia Maragakis, whose donation was dedicated to the memory of Pavlos Kon. Livaditis. For the truly professional preparation and presentation of the meal, the President's thanks were addressed to Georgios Livaditis, who was President of the Spoi for 12 years, having left a rich legacy in the village, to Vasilis Maragakis, to Manolis Ioan. Tsambounieris, to Vasilis Min. Piperis and to Haris Il. Vasilaras. Finally, he thanked the tireless pioneer of the folklore tradition of Karpathos, Elias Emm. Vasilaras, who has consistently and unwaveringly supported all the decisions of the Association, always offering the best ideas and his valuable assistance. A typical example is his inspired mantinades, which adorned the original invitation of the event:
July 13th, after church,
Please all be present at the Palace.
Because Mother's Day is celebrated together with Father's Day,
We celebrate this day equally.
Mrs. Marinaki will be the speaker.
where our village feels like its own little hamlet.
Katerina is a PhD candidate,
which three judges awarded her Master's degree with excellent marks.
Honorees for 2025 were Penelope Livaditis, who was also the first President of the Women's Association of Seeds, and (in alphabetical order) the following:
-Vassilis Lachanas Petropoulakis,
-Tasos Palivos,
-Nikolaos Frangos and
-Basilis (Billy) Briefcase.
Among the most moving and emotionally charged moments of the long-running event were those during which the relatives of the honorees, usually their children and grandchildren, took the floor - even via telephone communication with America - in order to express their deep feelings and their thoughts full of love and respect for their beloved parents or grandparents.
Dear friends, Spoitisses and Spoites, it was my honor and pleasure to participate in this warm, humane and meaningful event and I wish the organizers and honorees good health and to celebrate every year by honoring the most important people in all of our lives, our Mothers and Fathers. I extend my warmest and most heartfelt thanks to the entire Spoitis Women's Association "Proodos" and its tireless and productive Board for this honorary invitation, and to my beloved, now friend, Fani Maragaki, I multiply them countless times, both for her choice and her trust in me, as well as for her warm hospitality, which has truly made me feel at home!!!
As for my beloved Elias E. Vasilaras, I don't just want to thank him for the friendship, love and trust with which he and his entire family have surrounded me over the last 15 years, but also to wish him to live like the high mountains, strong and creative, because he still has so much to offer to his beloved homeland, Karpathos and Spoa! I hope that I can continue to collaborate and participate in some of these, my beloved Elias!
And as I said in closing my speech:
Thank you all very much for coming in droves.
and you welcomed me to your beloved Spoa.
And time!
