Snow Lambs & Other News

Dear Friends of Kythera,
it has been snowing on Kythera: olive groves coated with cold powered whiteness contradicts many of our notions of the island and helps us discover yet another aspect of our multifaceted Kythera to add to the hidden fresh-water pools, private helipads, bootlegging stills, seal-inhabited caves, pirate coves and sunken canons. Not to mention the secret hiding places of the lost golden bell of Paliohora and the the most holy temple to Aphrodite in the Greek-speaking world. Our Treasure Island's greatest assets remain our family connections which are accessible to us both on and off the island.

In the "old days", a phone-call to Kythera was a big event. Even when I first visited in the 1980s, about the only telephone in Mitata was in the café-general store, and when calls came in, scouts would be sent out to find and inform the villager being called to come and receive their calls. This could take many minutes, if successful at all. In my case, when my (non-greek) mother called, she would have her patience tested to the limit by an old Greek in the village who had been called over to "entertain" her in broken English while I was being sought. It was usually the same old villager each month and she had to hear him repeat his life story each time. 

In Need of Props!

Join the Cavalcade

Stephen Trifyllis' Kythera Album

John G. Alfieris (Feb. 28, 1883 - Dec. 6, 1966) Oakland, CA, USA

Trisagion services for John G. Alfieris, 83, retired Oakland restaurant operator and patriarch of the East Bay Greek community, will be held at 8 o’clock tonight at Grant Miller’s, 2850 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 

Services will be held at 11:45 a.m. tomorrow at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Ave., Oakland.

Mr. Alfieris, who sold his last downtown restaurant after suffering a heart attack in 1948, died Monday at his home, 203 Athol Ave., Oakland.He is survived by his wife, Mary, five children, 15 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Mr. Alfieris and his wife were born on the island of Kythera, off the southern coast of Greece. They were married in Egypt in 1903 and came to Oakland shortly before the 1906 earthquake and fire.

Soon after, he opened a candy store and cafe in the Fruitvale district of Oakland. For many years he was Northern California subscription representative for the California Greek Newspaper.

Mr. Alfieris directed or acted in many Greek dramas for Greek Orthodox church and other groups. He was co-founder and past president of the Hellenic Community Church, Oakland; past president and co-founder of the Kytherian Society of the West Coast: president, past district governor and charter member of the Greek American Progressive Association (GAPA), and member of AHEPA Chapter 171 of Oakland. 

Oakland Tribune: Dec. 1966

submitted by Elias Vlanton on 27.11.2016

My grandmother was Stamatina Paspalas from Logothetianika and I am connected to a small group of Paspalases in the United States. I know that some of the Paspalas clan moved to Australia, but I have no contact nor know anything about them. I know my great grandfather's name was Anastasios. If anyone might be related and would like to be in touch, please reply.

http://www.kythera-family.net/en/message-board/paspalas-family

KMA2 now Crowdfunding!

1000 Kytherians can't be wrong! After sell-out premieres on Kythera, in Berlin, Sydney and Brisbane, to enthusiastic audiences young and old, bold and beautiful, Greek and non-Greek, we are now on path to produce Kythera mon Amour 2, "An Island Named Desire". It will be filmed in mid-2017 and in the cinemas this coming October! All your favourite stars from the first film will be back, and new unique island characters will also be on hand to reveal the spices of Kytherian life.