Il design della memoria e il “vocabolario simbolico”. Arti, simboli e codici nella tradizione agropastorale greco-calabra / Design of the memory and "symbolic vocabulary". Arts, symbols and codes in the agro-pastoral Greek-Calabrian tradition

Today, the area affected by the Greek linguistic minorities is located close to the Ionian coast of Reggio Calabria. The culture of the Greeks of Calabria is linked to ancient rural traditions. The same Grecanic language is a lexicon almost exclusively handed down orally. Today, the signs of tradition are very clear mainly on objects related to rural life and everyday use: the wooden tools (scilia) and textile production (fammèna). Homemade products of the Grecanic area, compared to other areas of Calabria, are distinguished by the particular types of patterns. There aren't generally figurative decorations. The recurrent motifs are geometrical and show a clear relationship with the Byzantine tradition. Sometimes they are signs of an esoteric world, an expression of an ancestral aspiration to the transcendent that is poured in the everyday objects. The function of use, everyday practices, the passing of the days of their existence are connected, through symbol, to a historical passed experience and to a transcendent spiritual universe. The shape, the designs and decorations of Grecanic handicraft products evoke a spiritual and cultural universe which, for many centuries, has pervaded the lives of our people and that today, if properly exploited, could lead to the discovery of ancient and lost identity.