Photos to inspire

Mikis Theodorakis comes home to Crete

I was in Crete on one of my yearly visits to look at the mountains, sketch the flowers and generally absorb some of the culture. I stopped for a cup of bitter Greek coffee with my old friend Andreas a silversmith, who has a small shop called Psimithio, in a small square behind the cathedral. ‘You need to go the main square’ he said. ‘Something is happening there.’

The main square was full of people, all gathering in front of the cathedral. Some held single red or white roses or wreaths of olive leaves.

A boat had arrived in the harbour carrying a coffin containing the body of Mikis Theodorakis, politician, musician, national hero and father of Crete. A band playing a funeral march followed the hearse through the crowds towards the main square and his coffin was carried into the cathedral.

Then a queue formed to go into the cathedral, and I found myself joining it and entering the dark incense filled interior. Local people genuflected in front of an icon then walked round the coffin, touching it, and putting flowers on the top.

In the square local people in National dress formed a line in the square as Theodoraki’s music played. A brass band and choir waited nearby, and on the stroke of twelve o’clock, the coffin emerged from the cathedral. Clap, clap, clap. The coffin was carried through a long line of people, followed by the brass band and the local dignitaries and Greek Prime Minister to where the hearse waited.

Theodorakis’s final journey was to the local village of Galatas where he was to be interred next to his parents. A Son of Crete, he had come home at last, and I felt immensely privileged to have witnessed this unique event.