Metaxia Anaplioti (1938-2018) is the luminous protagonist of the short documentary Blessings and Vows (2018), written, directed and produced by Katerina Zacharia. The octogenarian villager adhered to her vow, lighting a candle daily at the eleventh-century Byzantine church of Hagioi Theodoroi in Vamvaka, Mani in Southern Greece, for over 40 years.
Three essays recently published in the peer reviewed journal Ergon (December 2021), complement the film, by reflecting on the folkloric, cultural, and diasporic discourses at play in Blessings and Vows.
- LMU Professor of Classics Katerina Zacharia, “Into the Light: Making Blessings and Vows"
- UCLA Anthropologist Professor Laurie Kain Hart, “The Uses of Abandonment: Reflections on the film Blessings and Vows"
- Ohio State University Transnational Studies Professor Yiorgos Anagnostou, “Voice and Voicing in Blessings and Vows: Finding and Funding Heritage in the Greek Transnational Village"
Watch the documentary:
Read the triptych of essays here: