Between young and old Greek Orthodox Christians: saint worship and dance as offering to a saint

Abstract

The paper reconstructs what is remembered about saint worship practiced in the Rhodian highland village of Istrios. Istrian memory reveals a religious practice that included dance as a form of promise (taximo) and offering (tama) to Saint Merkourios, particularly by Istrian mothers and their role in assisting to cure their children of illness. The paper introduces the presence of dancing as a form of promise and offering to worship a saint, describing in detail how Istrian mothers performed the dance in a Holy shrine atypically located in a cemetery chapel.