Page 21 - SMCK Magazine - Issue #01

The use of jewellery in contem- The crowning of the dead implies
porary Greece still reflects ar-
chaic concepts of identity, sacrifice, death, eternity, spirituality.
The concept of death has not changed much since the Homeric Age: the short joy of life is followed by an anaemic eternity in the kingdom of shadows.
apotheosis, becoming God-like.
The baptism cross, the wedding ring, the engagement earrings reflect rites of social integration in modern Greece, and are buried with the dead to preserve the dead person’s iden- tity in the other world.
Buried jewellery later becomes the property of the relative who underta- kes the exhumation, three years after death. Buried jewellery is considered apotropaic—it has the power to avert evil or bad luck—for it went to Hades and returned!
End-death/τέλος (télos) in Greek means completion or perfection.
It also means the end of a sport race or αγών (agón).
A golden wreath crowned the victor of the life race at his funeral, just as athletes were crowned with wreaths made of sacred tree branches after their victories.
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Drawings: Loukia Richards
Buried jewellery