Dance of Zalongo

In Greek folklore, the Dance of Zalongo (or Zalongo Dance) holds a very special and emotive place. The historic events that surround the heroic act of 63 Souliotises (women from Souli), were first reported in the Ethnic Newspaper of Nafplion, Peloponnese, on June 18, 1932.

Souli is a village in the Thesprotia province of Western Epirus. It climbs up the Zalongo mountencrop, which sports a mighty deep gorge, that received the women of Souli, when they decided to die rather than fall in the hands of the enemy. During the War of Independence, the men of Souli fought and fell heroically, one by one. On December 16 1803, the 63 Souliotises, holding their children in their arms formed a circle and performed the Zalongo Dance. Each one led a full circle and on reaching the crater, first threw in the child, then herself jumped into the abyss while the rest of the women clapped and applauded.

In this way they fell until none was left.

The song which the Souliotises sang while dancing their macabre Syrtos was based on a poem by the Greek ethnic poet Dionysios Solomos, best known from his verses to the Olympic Anthem and the Greek National Anthem; it said:

Farewell miserable world,
Farewell oh sweet life,
And as for you ill-fated home
Farewell for ever...