Ossuaries

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Ossuaries, these small white domed structures, are an extremely common site in Greece. They dot the hillsides. I can't help taking pictures of them,it is something about a round building against the blue sky or water that attracts me. These pictures were taken shortly after sunrise. I love how the shadow of the cross is reflected from one ossuary onto it's neighbor in the first shot.

Ossuaries are like small chapels. Families often maintain one on their property to honor the dead. They are carefully tended, almost exclusively by older women who are often dressed in black. We often see these ladies mopping and cleaning the ossuaries when we walk up the hill in the morning just after dawn. Many are meticulously kept, whitewashed frequently and visited regularly.

One morning Andrea approached one of the women who was mopping the floor of one of the ossuaries and she was allowed inside to take a peek. I didn't go, it seemed too personal a space for me to enter as a stranger. She described it as looking like a chapel with a curtain and some icons in the back of the structure, very similar to what you would see in an Orthadox church.

More soon,
CB