Let’s liven up our beautiful and glorious village!
Beautiful and enchanting, with an everlasting history, rooted upon the slope of the “Tsiouka” peak of the area of Plastira’s Lake on mount Agrafa, the village of Kastania has been through times of prosperity but a lot of hardship as well. Underneath the firs and chestnut trees, hence the name Kastania (= Chestnut tree), surrounded by green landscape, has a clear view of the serene Thessalian Plainfield all the way up to Mount Olympus to the Northeast, of the wild beauty of the high Pindus mountain line to the West, and from the highest point of the village, there is a view of the entire lake and its surrounding villages. The ideal climate, provided by its altitude of 800 m , and the fresh water is a blessing for its inhabitants and a breath of life for the thousands of tourists that used to visit the village for recreation.
Its nodal geographical position has rendered it the junction point between the villages of Agrafa mountain and the Thessalian Plainfield. Today, being only 23 km away from the city of Karditsa, it is easily accessible by the city and by the rest of the villages of Thessaly and Evrytania.
Being close to the Plastira’s Dam and between the eastern and western shores of the Plastira’s Lake, the village provides the visitors with the ability to admire the natural beauty of the lake, as well as the various historical monuments of the area.
Fortunately, there has been a thorough and long historical investigation of the history and genealogy of the various families of the community of Kastania – Moucha. The investigation has been conducted by Mr Giorgos Klimos, and the evidence that is well presented on the pages of his relative book, have astonished us with the hardship that this land has been through and how much it has offered through times.
The roots of the village can be traced back to the ancient land of Dolopia, while the ruins of an ancient fortress and tombs around the “Tsiouka” peak are an irrefutable proof of perpetual habitation of the village. The existence of a Byzantine settlement on the very area of the village is certified also by the census of 1454, exactly one year after the fall of Constantinople.
It is undoubtedly the village that various sources of these times mention as “the Great Kastania of Agrafa”. Its inhabitants are mentioned on the related catalogues as benefactors of various Monasteries in Meteora and elsewhere, while several travelers referred to Kastania as one of the most important villages of Thessalian Agrafa (Fr. Pouqueville), having around 500 families (W. Leake, 1810). It has been the birthplace of two Patriarchs of Constantinople, Kallinikos the Second (1688-1702) and Seraphim (1733-1734), but also of several Bishops, teachers and scholars, whereas the school of the village is already mentioned by the late 17th century.
Winegrowing and its famous wine (the Agrafa Nectar), sericulture, transportation and trading activities had rendered it a trading and supplies station for the shepherds coming from different parts of the nearby mountains and whole Evrytania area. In addition to that, the income that the village has earned by early forms of tourism (the travelers of the early 20th century described it as a “magical place”), as well as the natural resources of the forest area surrounding the village, have fed whole generations of inhabitants of the village despite all the hardship they had to deal with, in a crowded, vivid and friendly society.
It always took part in the struggles and military uprisings of the Greek nation. It served as the headquarters of several fighters of the Greek Revolution of 1821, it was the headquarters of the camp of G. Karaiskakis; nevertheless it was unfortunately not included in the territory of the first Independent Greek State. The borderline established by the Greek – Ottoman treaty of 1833, separated the community of Kastania – Moucha in such way that only the village of Moucha was annexed to the first independent Greek State, whereas Kastania remained on the Ottoman territory, and due to this peculiar territorial situation, it became the seat of the Ottoman regional administration and military station. It was here though that the Declaration of the Agrafa fighters of the 1854 uprising was signed. It was liberated in 1881 and it was reunited with the village of Moucha into a Community of the municipality of Itamos.
During the Nazi – German occupation, it played a significant role in the National Resistance movement, whereas it suffered a great deal during the devastating civil war, being a major centre of military operations. After the end of these military conflicts, its brave inhabitants managed to build up their households literally out of ruins, while the construction of the “Megdovas” river Dam, gave a boost to the local economy.
Nevertheless times have changed a lot. Its children, who had always been following short or long distance highways to Diaspora, have made the village look deserted. In addition, it failed to be part to the economic boom which the area of the Plastira’s Lake has experienced over the past couple of decades, thus reaching a major decline.
Those of us who were born in the 1950s – 1960s, who had seen our village prosperous and having a population of over one thousand people, who attended the local school with 120 fellow students and 3 teachers, who set up endless celebrations during holidays and feasts, who took part in the harvest , who shopped at its big markets, who entertained ourselves at the lovely coffee places and bars, who bonded so strongly to each other during school trips and social – religious ceremonies, who considered it to be the centre of our lives, who had to leave it in order to study and progress in our lives, as we were being told back then; it’s us then who upon our return to our birthplace, have realized vaguely initially but more intensely afterwards, its gradual decline.
The reasons explaining the decline are many and well known, but still the idea that our land is year by year being deserted, is bitter. The school is closed, the houses are empty of people, the liveliness and the optimism have gone away. Unlike the enormous love for the land though; its “expatriate” children have restored the old houses that they inherited by their parents, some others built new ones, and the majority of them in summertime are trying to find once again their childhood paradise and to impart a small piece of their heart that lies always there in their beloved motherland, to their children that have been born and raised elsewhere, along with every little thing possible about their roots, their local dialect and their past habits. Above all, they eagerly wish to render their village attractive once again, to try to invent manners of bringing back liveliness to the village, in accordance with the new social conditions of our era.
Feeling grateful towards those who have stayed behind and served our land in every possible way, we come together with endless love and pure intentions, in order to assist the elected officials of our land and to work together, each one according to his talents and ideas, and raise our village up to its past glory once again. The long-lasting touristic tradition and the existing modern facilities of the village are good signs of the success of our endeavor. The founding of the “Cultural Association of Kastania – Moucha “Saint Tryphon””, whose long-scale official Charter defines its purpose and the action that needs to be taken in order to deal with the local problems and promote our land, will breathe new life into the village. At the same time and in accordance with the progress of technology that has brought the world closer, we have created the present website as a means of communication and as a notice board of all interesting announcements and common activities.
It will contain the historical course of the village through centuries, investigated and documented mainly by Mr Giorgos Klimos, as well as its monuments (inside the parish church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, stands a magnificent wooden Iconostasis of the 18th century, and behind it, part of the holy relics of Saint Tryphon, the Patron Saint of our village, is being kept).
It also wishes to include our cultural heritage, by constant enrichment of its content. Historical surveys, records of various place-names, folklore and other types of information will also be part of the website, in order to be made public to the people of Kastania and others interested. It particularly intends to gather all the old photographs as reminiscent of the past years, and to include the entire photographic archive of the good old village teacher Mr Vasilis Kissas, containing photographs taken through the decades with his good old camera.
It will primarily promote the uncontested natural beauty of our land, in order to contribute to the promotion of hiking and cycling path networks (there is already substantial infrastructure), lakeside camping and other winter and summer activities. In addition, it wishes to focus on the youth, their problems, their activities and above all their ideas and propositions. Its ambition is to become a meeting place and notice board of news and various events for the expatriates everywhere.
All people of Kastania, young or old, can contribute to this great effort. We owe it to those who left and to those who shall come.