(Poppies)
In
most countries May 1st is celebrated as Labour Day. It’s a holiday in Greece
too, but it is primarily as the Day of Flowers that it’s celebrated. Wreaths of
flowers are made and presented to friends and neighbours, and many Greeks
travel to the countryside to enjoy the flowering landscape, with bunches of
flowers stuck under their windscreen wipers.
Molyvos
was flooded with mainly local tourists, even though it is no pastoral field
full of flowers. The little town is a beloved destination for people going out
for a day-trip. It has lots of green spots within its old stonewalls and so has
its own beautiful flower spots. Travelling from the capital to Molyvos will
lead you along colourful open fields and lots of orchards where beneath the
light green olive leaves lie fields of flowers in all colours. These days the
island is at its colourful best and it is the nicest time to take walks or
outings by car.
Close
to Achladeri you will find famous fields, which are easily as beautiful as the
Dutch tulip fields: the red of the poppies is an attraction for many
photographers. Even just a few of these bright red flowers in a green field can
tempt plenty of people into stopping on the roadside.
Most
people know that poppies are not just flowers to colour gardens or fields:
opium can be made from them: a drug that can relieve pains, numb your state of
mind or bring you to a sweet sleep. It can lead you to addiction and also may
kill you. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, the English writer Charles
Dickens, the movie star Bela Lugosi and even the world famous nurse Florence
Nightingale were opium
addicts. And many others too, since opium has been known for thousands of years.
In ancient
Greece, their Gods for sleep (Hypnos), night (Nyx)
and death (Thanatos) were often depicted with a poppy as their symbol, as were the
Gods Apollo, Asklepios, Pluton, Demeter, Aphrodite, Kybele and the Egypt
Goddess Isis many times seen with a bunch of poppies, sometimes mixed with some
ears of corn in their hand.
But
it was only in the 8th century BC that poppies were mentioned for
the first time in writing. Hesiod
mentioned the city of Mekone (Papaver-city, in the region of Corinth), where
Prometheus gave portions of poppies at an ox to sweeten the mind of Zeus.
Theophrastus later wrote that a combination of the juice of poppies and hemlock
(Conium maculatum) gave a painless and easy death. In the Odyssey, written by Homer, the
juice of poppies is used to numb people in order to have them forget all
sorrows. Aristotle recognized poppy juice as a drug and both Hippocrates and
Theophrastus wrote
about different kind of poppies and their applications.
Proof that
the Greeks in ancient times were already using this flower for healing or
enjoyment comes from archaeological finds. On Crete a small statue was
discovered of an unknown woman from Minoan times. Her hair was adorned with
poppy-capsules. That is why the archaeologists named her as a Goddess of
Poppies and healing. But all over Greece poppy-capsules were depicted on many
more finds, so a conclusion can be made that opium was a very old drug, known
by priests, kings, Gods and other mighty people who knew very well how to use
it.
Lesvos is not,
of course, full of poppies that can be used to produce opium;
the
opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), also called the Common Garden Poppy, has a
light green stem and its flowers vary in the colour from white to pink, purple
and dark red. She may be found on the island, but not in sufficient numbers to
provide an opium kit.
The most
common poppy on Lesvos is the red Papaver rhoeas, also called corn or field poppy, Flanders
poppy, red poppy or coquelicot. You may also find a smaller variation: the Papaver argemone, called the long pricklyhead poppy or pale poppy; and even another pale
poppy, called the Long-headed poppy or Blindeyes (Papaver dubium) is to be find on the island. And some
of the coasts are brightened by a yellow kind, called a horned poppy (Glaucium
phoeniceum).
I think
there might be some opium addicts on the island, but for sure this drug is not
produced on the island. Even though the common garden poppy was plentiful
during ancient times in Greece, nowadays it is hard to find. Maybe that’s the
reason that the seeds of these flowers – the delightful poppy seeds – are mostly
unknown in Greek food; although you may find some bread decorated with poppy
seeds. In earlier times they had babies calmed down or encouraged sleep with
some drops of the field poppy (which also contains, but in very very small
amounts, some drugs). But nowadays I am not sure if mothers would dare to use
this to sooth their children asleep.
Here on the
island lots of green leaves picked in nature are very popular as food: the
so-called chorta, like dandelion, Milk Thistle or nettles. There are many wild
grasses loved by the Greeks, whose leaves are picked when the plants are still
young and finish in the kitchens where they are used for super healthy dishes. The leaves of the long pricklyhead poppy also are an
edible chorta. These can even be eaten raw, provided that they are picked
before the capsule has grown. In a small tavern in Agiasos last week they not
only served fresh picked Morchella (another culinary surprise), but also Poppy Balls:
not containing opium, of course. But you do not need any opium to get addicted
to Greek food, especially when you find such an eatery where they serve so many
products, fresh from nature, which they turn into delicate dishes.
(with
thanks to Mary Staples)
©
Smitaki 2015
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