Calendar 2021
The two paintings in the calendar are works by the artist Alexandros Androulakis, commissioned by Stegi, and adorn the premises of Stegi Vitsentzou Kornaros at 97 Vitsentzou Kornaros Street in Sitia.
Erotokritos gladdens the heart, teaches without being didactic, is humorous without being funny. His fifteen-syllable verse was shaped in the conservatory that nature created with its creatures in this place, with this climate, the sun, the air, this sea, this sky.
It resonates with the breath of its people, but also with their thoughts, thoughts that demand precision, grace, and conciseness. Together with other works of the Cretan Renaissance, they took root in their souls and have since borne fruit in the form of mantinades. At their best, they have an independent, mature meaning and an abundance of grace.
The best contemporary successor to Kornaros is Kostis Fragoulis – Antaios, who was proud of his ancestry:
But he also made his position clear:
However, the connection is not arbitrary. Leading figures in Greek literature, such as Giorgos Seferis, Stylianos Alexiou, and Menelaos Parlamas, have pointed this out.
We sought to draw parallels between the two poets, contrasting the end of Erotokritos with the will of Antaios.
In this spirit, we have selected a couplet from Erotokritos and a contemporary Steiakos mantinada for each month, showing that Tradition is our living past, adding a fresh touch of flavor to our everyday lives.
We look forward to such delights with our 2021 Calendar. Here, like this one by Manolis Kanavakis:
