28-05-18 Agīou Pněvmatou

Monday 28th May 2018

A national holiday is upon us though Kingsley doesn’t sleep in; he’s up at 7:15. There’s only so much ‘shushing’ and back-scratching I can do before we both give up and wake for the day. But no one’s in a rush: its a day off school.

Agīou Pnèumatou or Pentecost is the Christian feastday commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot. This feast has a double significance. It marks the all-important wheat harvest in the Land of Israel (Exodus 34:22); and it commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai.

Kingsley and I do a bit of our own mountain climbing today; a rocky outcrop between Anāvissos & Agios Nicolaos. But we didn’t get far; nature called as usual. With every outdoors expedition the kiddo must go. We find a tree near the sea. Fir tree gets fertilized; bum gets the fresh salty water treatment.

A long hot windy day at the sail club and beyond is laid out in front of us. Glorious stretches of black sand, cool crystalline water and kids everywhere are for Kingsley to meet. This season Kingsley is a) significantly more willing to play with other kiddies, and b) very confident in the water; goes deep and far. I’m torn: yelling at him to come back to the shallows and applauding him for playing nicely with the Greek kids.

Today’s new eye-opener is watching a JiaJia crack open a couple of sea urchins, scoop out the insides and feed her grandkids! Of course she invited Kingsley to try some axinös. Of course he declined!