Passage, December 2009, a fairy-tale for a better world…


Drawing close at the end of the year and at Christmas time, we have decided to present a fairy-tale for a more beautiful world, because fairy-tales are the victory of the impossible, they defeat decay and time. In fairy-tales everything can happen because they are a form of art and that is why fairy-tales are subversive.  The greatest enemies of fairy-tales have always been the totalitarian authorities of controlling of man. Thanasis Dritsas, a member of the team of Radio Art, is a subversive artist, a doctor, a composer who writes fairy-tales, where the impossible takes place and another, more beautiful, fairer aspect of the world is born.

His new book"The Dream of Athinoula and other fairy-tale stories for children and sensitive adults", aims at children but also adults who can still see the world through the eyes of children.

This illustrated book contains messages on current problems posed to society and our lives due to modern over-consumption, to the ruin of nature and the ecological problem and but is also narrating the dreams that a child can make into water. Two of the stories contained into this book (The Two-Santas and the Revolt of the Snowmen) are inspired by traditional Christmas spiritual meanings.

In The Dream of Athinoula a little girl called Athinoula dreams that her bed resembled a small boat and one night the water slowly filled the room and the level of water went up to the ceiling. Athinoula then woke up, observing all the objects and toys swimming in her bedroom that was truly transformed into a giant aquarium.

In the Two-Santas two different types of Santa Claus are meeting in the courtyard of a house next to a Christmas tree. One is that chubby Santa who distributes gifts under certain payment conditions. The other is very thin, appears as radiography, after the name Santa-Vassilis from the ancient Caesarea of Cappadocia, in Minor Asia. The Santa is a symbol of consumption, comfort and modern life-style and Vassilis is the symbol of frugality, affection and love unrequited. We look at what these two completely different “Santa-like” cultural figures can discuss during this unexpected meeting.

In The Revolt of the Snowmen happens in Frostis frozen state where the acts of people have been a cause to melt the ice very quickly so to shorten the lives of snowmen during the holiday season. So to blame are the exhaust gases produced by cars, the industries that throw up poisonous gases in the atmosphere, the burn of forests and loss of trees that people cut. So the desperate snowmen of Frostis decide to rise up and bring people to reason with their actions.

 From the story The Revolt of the Snowmen:

 In the morning of Christmas Day all cars of the town were immobilized in the snow. Most houses were without electricity and the people of FrostiesTown started using primitive tools, which they had totally forgotten about, to get warm, to travel and to eat. All the time they lit the fireplaces with whatever wood they could gather and they heated water on the fire for cooking and washing. In all houses they discovered the light of candles and oil lamps and in the evening of Christmas Day there was a uniquely devout feeling throughout the frozen town. When the authorities and the mayor of Frosties walked numbly around the marketplace and the main streets, they discovered and read everywhere the banners and the pamphlets of the snowmen rebels. The snowman leader, however, “the Great Avalanche”, had given the order for all snowmen to be back at their usual positions by the morning of Christmas Day.  Motionless, frozen but laughing arctic snipers. Flamboyant and beautiful with all their multicolored accessories.  The caps, the scarves, the carrots in the noses, the broomsticks that were their only weapons in this improbable operation.
The mayor as well as many of the common citizens of Frosties had tears in their eyes, and they hugged the flamboyant snowman, “the Great Avalanche”, who stood proud in the town hall yard. They had understood perfectly the message of this snowmen revolt. Real joy, at last, spread all over FrostiesTown that night in the candlelight. Without electricity, without petrol, without cars. The energy of the candles, however, had charged everyone’s heart and they celebrated Christmas with a promise of life for tomorrow.

The Photos on the Banner are from the book "The Dream of Athinoula and other fairy-tale stories for children and sensitive adults" Illustrated by George Boutlas.  

Eds. Bartzoulianos, Athens, Greece. It is available in all central bookstores.  For info: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it