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Crete

Crete's distinctive mixture in historical times, has produced a culture that remains unique even within Greece. It is worth pointing out that Cretan culture is considered to be the mother of all Greek civilization originated on Crete.

Due to Crete’s geographical position in the Mediterranean, it has repeatedly been a genesis of various distinct kinds, whose special characteristics have prompted the attention of writers from ancient times, to the present day.

When Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, large number of Greek nobles and scholars took refuge in Crete. As a result, Byzantine culture and Byzantine art took on a fresh lease of life. The Monastery of St. Catherine in Herakleion was a particularly important center of Byzantine culture where theology, philosophy, music and literature were developed.

Cretans are considered to be very friendly and traditionally hospitable people. They have their own attitude too. Firstly they are Cretans, and then they are Greeks. For the Greeks, Crete is stereotypically the very last bastion of freedom and a repository of practices and follies, that had long since disappeared elsewhere in the nation. To foreigners as well, Cretans may seem to embody all of the Greek virtues and vices but in fourfold measure.

Moderation is scorned; rustling, blood feuds, marriage by abduction, three - day festivals, courageous resistance against hopeless odds, and self - abnegating generosity were until very recently staples of a life that contributed to the legend of the Kritiki (Greek for Cretans) as Super - Greeks, a reputation that the islanders themselves seem to oppose. Levendia - an expression difficult to translate but implying - grace, eloquent wit, physical agility, musicality, high spirits in the face of adversity, and pride in self - sufficiency - is still a quality prized in men and women.

The Cretan has faced armed enemies and hordes of tourists with the same security born of a feeling of superiority, which led the Sicilian Don Fabrizio to exclaim in "The Leopard" - "They have come to teach us good manners, but they won’t succeed, because we are gods."

Cretan people are deeply connected with music and rhythm. Through their music they express their feelings, the joy and sorrow, the love and passion for live. The instruments that they use are the Lyra, the mandolin, and the lute. However, the most popular form of musical expression is the so - called "mantinada" which is a poetic couplet of fifteen syllabus which express their feelings, and their thoughts.

Cretans love dancing. Some of the most famous dances are syrtos, pentozalis, sousta and maleviziotis.

Traditional pieces of weaving and needlework as well as embroideries made by the Cretan women are famous.

Nowadays, roughly 30 per cent of the land in Crete is cultivated with crops and orchard. The largest plain is Messara, a fertile stretch of roughly 45km in length and 10km wide in the central southern region of what is now the prefecture of Iraklion.

Crete produces high quality olive oil. 13 million olive trees are said to exist in Crete. These represent more than one third of the Greek crop as a whole.

Grapes are also Crete’s largest export good, amounting to 10,000 tones annually. Cretan wines, however, have always enjoyed a certain reputation since ancient times.

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