This is the Icon that belonged to Paraskevi Dasios (Yiayia). It was given to her by her Aunt, whose name was Kiriakoula (nickname Tsiria)
The story as told by my Uncle Jimmy (Dimitrios Dritsas) in Aug, of 1987.
The church of Ayios Konstandinos was built by Great-grandfather Dimitrios Dasios(his nick name was Mitroangelos) and his sister, Tsiria, and she also had the icon made.
She was of course my Yiayia’s Aunt.
Tsiria was engaged to a very good looking but very poor young man, who was very proud.
On the day of their engagement, at the table, she sang a song:
The lyrics in Greek:
Pios tolege, pios to elpize, oute sto nou mou toxa. Na afiso to vasiliko na paro to moloxa.
The lyrics in English:
Who ever said it, who ever wished for it, never in my mind did I think it, to leave the Vasiliko and take the mallow.
(See Note below re. mallow)
The young man thought that she sang it on purpose to hurt him and got up and left and never came back.
Uncle Jimmy said Tsiria (Kiriakoula) went some where in Greece.
She built a church and had the Icon made. In a few years she withered away. Her body opened up with sores which ran with a yellowish fluid, and she died of a broken heart.
She gave the Icon to her niece, my Yiayia, Paraskevi and Uncle Jimmy gave it to us in 1953.(It was our first trip to Greece. My father had left in 1920 when he was 18 years old).
I have scanned this Icon front and back. There is writing, on the back, in pencil. I am trying to decipher it. So far i can only decipher Kiria or maybe Kiriaki….. and it looks like Grigoris.
Kiriaki fits with the story as Tsiria and Kiriakoulais are nicknames for Kiriaki.
Note:
Mallow – Botanical name Malvaceae. A family of plants that includes cotton, hibiscus, Althea etc. One species Malva rotundifolia is a troublesome, pernicious weed.
Vasiliko (Sweet Basil) – Botanical name Ocimum basilicum. A herb much treasured by the Greeks, taken from the Greek word for King.
VMA