Legless in Sfakiá: Drinking and Social Practice in Western Crete

Legless in Sfakiá: Drinking and Social Practice in Western Crete Sean Damer . . . but I gladly would . . . have left the Monastery of those foure Friars, with whom I was lodged ... in regard of their great cheere and deepe draughts of Malmsey I received hourely, and sometimes against my will: Every night after supper, the Friars forced me to dance with them, either one gagliard or another: Their musiki in the end was sound drunkennesse, and their syncopa turned to spew up all, and their bed converted to a boord, or else the hard floore, for these beastly swine were nightly so full that they had never power to goe to their owne chambers, but where they fell, there they lay till the morne. For the space of twenty dayes of my being there, I never saw any one of them truely sober. (Lithgow 1632) Introduction For a long time now, much scholarly attention has been devoted to the drinking practices of Greeks, both ancient and modern. This literature has been summarised admirably by Peter Allen in a recent article (1985). Wine has had and continues to have important ritual, economic, and social functions in Greek society. Yet, as Allen remarks: One of the most striking aspects of alcohol consumption in Greece today is the degree of moderation shown by most Greeks. Although alcohol is pervasive in Greek society, drinking is very rarely engaged in for the specific purpose of getting drunk and most Greeks drink in moderation. (1985: 468) Allen cites the anthropological literature to argue that drunkenness is perceived by Greeks as being antithetical to central values of their culture: it threatens core values of self-control, personal and family honour, privacy, and secrecy (1985: 470ff). But he points out that these anthropological studies have been largely concerned with Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Volume 6, 1988. 291 292 Sean Damer small rural communities, and as out-migration from Greek villages continues, with consequent rapid urbanization, so it is likely that there will be an erosion of these rural values. Thus, he concludes: we can expect to see a rise in the incidence of alcohol-related problems in Greek society in the future. (1985: 475) Few students of modern Greek society would disagree with the general thrust of Allen's observations, nor with his conclusion. His purpose, however, is a synthetic one, and his piece is not based upon extended empirical observation. I now turn to two papers which, while being older than Allen's, are both much-quoted in the literature and based on extended empirical observation (Blum and Blum 1964; 1969). (The second of these papers is merely an extended version of the first, with much identical wording. Reference here is made to both). The Blums' study as the original paper's title indicates was about "Drinking Practices and Controls in Rural Greece." It was based on six years' work including four field trips. It therefore merits attention from those scholars who wish to comprehend this topic, as some of their observations are confirmed by Allen. Insofar as one can deduce from the Blums' papers—for the information is not supplied—it seems that their study of drinking was an offshoot of their well-known 'action research' into health practices in Attica (Blum and Blum 1965). Given that their primary purpose in that study was ". . . to provide medical service to alleviate some of the immediate physical distress of the villagers . . . ," it seems fair to conclude that the purpose of their drinking study was to measure the problem of "alcoholism" with a view to its alleviation. The whole tenor of their paper(s) certainly suggests as much. The Blums were sceptical of the Greek reply to (foreign) questions about alcoholism: "There is no alcoholism problem in Greece" (Blum and Blum 1964: 93). However, using the methods of the "social and clinical psychologist," "formal interview schedules," the "Dodds Hygiene Scale," and "informal observations derived from living with the village folk," they nevertheless set out to quantify and qualify the "problem" (1964: 94). Such methods are subject to some systematic distortions. For instance, there is the tendency of Greek peasants to tell "outsiders" exactly what they want to hear. Furthermore , abstracting...