Kallikantzaroi

Kallikantzaroi are goblins said to cause trouble during the Christmas period. In the account of the Theophany ceremony, their seasonal presence gives the blessing of the sea an additional purpose: clearing the waters of them so sailing can resume.

Seasonal Role

A woman explaining the Greek Orthodox celebration to the narrator describes Kallikantzaroi as troublemakers who stir everything up during the Christmas period. The account offers no further description of their appearance or actions; their significance here lies in the seasonal disruption attributed to them.

Theophany and the Sea

The woman says that on Theophany, celebrated on 6 January, the priest blesses the water by throwing a cross into the sea, and that the seas are cleared of Kallikantzaroi that day. Her explanation links the ceremony to the return of sailing after the Christmas period. The creatures appear within a local religious explanation of the ritual, rather than as beings whose reality the narrative independently establishes.