Dance of ZalongoGreek: Χορός του Ζαλόγγου, Horos tou Zalongou) refers to the mass suicide of women and their children from Souli that occurred in the aftermath of the invasion of Ottoman troops on December 16, 1803. The event is commemorated in Greece in the context of the Greek War of Independence. About 60 women were trapped near the village of Zalongo in Epirus, now modern Greece, then the Ottoman Empire, who decided to turn towards the cliff's edge and die with their infants and children rather than to submit to the Ottoman troops chasing them. According to tradition they did this one after the other while dancing and singing.[1][2][3] The name also refers a number of Greek theatrical dramas and a song in folk style, commemorating the event, named the Dance of Zalongo.[4]
The story of the Zalongo women became so popular within the Greek community that more Greek women chose to commit suicide rather than suffer rape and lifelong torture. During the Greek War of Independence, in Naoussa, in the early 1820s, after a long siege of the city by Ottoman forces thirteen women with their children took refuge in a hill above the waterfall of the river Arapitsa, in Stoubanos. The city was burning due to a mass conquest by Ottoman forces the woman followed their sisters the Souli women of Zalongo and jumped to their deaths with their children into the Arapitsa of Naoussa. In the 1950s the city of Naoussa was awarded the official title Heroic City and a monument was erected at the site in the 1970s by Greek sculptor Katerina Halepa Katsatou in their honor.[5][6]
History
Greek Stamp Dance of ZalongoThe rocks of Zalongo where the Souliote women threw themselves off in 1803. The monument on the top was unveiled in 1961
During the Souliote War in December 1803, the Souliotes began evacuating Souli after their defeat by the forces of the local Ottoman-Albanian ruler, Ali Pasha.[7] During the evacuation, a group of Souliot women and their children were trapped by Ali's troops in the mountains of Zalongo in Epirus.[7] In order to avoid enslavement and rape, the women threw their children first and then themselves off a steep cliff, committing suicide.[8] The incident is also mentioned by Christoforos Perraivos in his 1815 edition of the History of Souli and Parga.[9]
According to the legend, they jumped down the precipice one after the other while singing and dancing.[10] The incident soon became known across Europe. The story reached the English-speaking world in the 1820s. During the Greek War of Independence, the story was used throughout England and the United States to gain sympathy for the war. Articles repeated a story about 100 women from Souli who took their lives along with their children while singing and dancing to avoid capture.[11] European painters used the theme in their works. At the Paris Salon of 1827, the French artist Ary Scheffer exhibited two Romantic paintings, one of which was entitled Les Femmes souliotes ("The Souliot Women").[12] French female painter Constance Blanchard painted Greek Women of Souli Running to Their Death in 1838, it was also exhibited at the Paris Salon that same year. Today, the Zalongo Monument on Mount Zalongo in Kassope commemorates their sacrifice.[13]
Theatricals and Songs
There is a popular Greek dance-song about the event, which is known and danced throughout Greece today.[14] It was part of popular drama, written by Sp. Peresiades, published in 1903 and staged first in 1904.[15] The Greek folk song "Dance of Zalongo" has the following lyrics:
English
Greek
Farewell poor world,
Farewell sweet life,
and you, my wretched country,
Farewell for ever
Farewell springs,
Valleys, mountains and hills
Farewell springs
And you, women of Souli
The fish cannot live on the land
Nor the flower on the sand
And the women of Souli
Cannot live without freedom
Farewell springs,
...
The women of Souli
Have not only learnt how to survive
They also know how to die
Not to tolerate slavery
Farewell springs,
...
Έχε γεια καημένε κόσμε,
έχε γεια γλυκιά ζωή
Και ’συ δύστυχη πατρίδα
έχε γεια παντοτινή.
Στη στεριά δε ζει το ψάρι
ούτ’ ανθός στην αμμουδιά
Κι οι Σουλιώτισσες δεν ζούνε
δίχως την ελευθεριά.
Έχετε γεια βρυσούλες
...
Οι Σουλιώτισσες δε μάθαν
για να ζούνε μοναχά
Ξέρουνε και να πεθαίνουν
να μη στέργουν στη σκλαβιά.
Έχετε γεια βρυσούλες
...
Peresiadis describes this part of his drama as a "chorus of women", which can be translated as "dance", but in that context it possibly means a "group of women", as that in ancient Greek drama.[16]
An Albanian dance-song called Vallja e Zallongut ("Dance of Zalongo") was developed with lyrics that refer to the same aforementioned mass suicide, published in 1961 by Sako Zihnni:[17]
Albanian
English
Lamtumirë, o Sul, i shkretë,
se po ndahemi per jetë.
Lamtumirë, o Sul i shkretë,
se na do t’ikim për jetë.
Ne po vdesim për liri,
se nuk duam skllavëri.
Lamtumirë, ju male e fusha,
na e punoi Pilo Gusha,
I pabesi faqezi,
s’pati turp, as perëndi.
Lamtumirë, o fusha e male,
ne vdesim pa frikë fare.
Jemi bila shqipëtare,
vdesim duke hedhur valle.
Lamtumirë, o Sul i shkretë,
lamtumir’ për gjithë jetë.
Goodbye, oh desolate Souli,
for we part ways for life.
Goodbye, oh desolate Souli,
because we will leave forever.
But we will die for freedom,
because we do not want slavery.
Goodbye, oh mountains and valleys,
this was done by Pelios Gousis,
The wicked scoundrel,
had no shame, no god.
Goodbye, oh valleys and mountains,
We die without fear at all.
It’s because we are Albanians,
we die by dancing.
Goodbye, oh desolate Souli,
goodbye for all eternity.
^Staff Writers (March 17, 2024). "Place of sacrifice of Naoussa women". Macedonia, Greece: Region of Central Macedonia Managing Authority. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
^Staff Writers (August 20, 2020). "Arapitsa River". Epiros, Greece: YouInGreece. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
^Percy, Sholto; Percy, Reuben, eds. (1823). "War". The Percy Anecdotes, Original and Select. Heroism-War. Vol. 7. London, UK: Brothers of the Benedictine Monastery. Retrieved March 24, 2024. One hundred women and children, being cut off from the rest, fled towards a steep precipice at a little distance from the convent: there the innocent babes were thrown over the rocks by their despairing mothers, whilst the women themselves, preferring death to the dishonor that awaited them joined in hand in hand and raising their minds to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by songs in honor of their lost country they whirred round and round in a species of frantic dance like ancient Thyades, till they approached the very edge of the cliff; then with a very loud shout of defiance, and as it were by a preconcerted signal, one and all threw themselves headlong down.
^Mero Rrapaj, Fatos (1983). Këngë popullore nga Çamëria [Popular songs from Chameria]. Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë, Instituti i Kulturës Popullore. p. 451. "Kjo është «Vallja e Zallongut». Siç dihet, pjesa me e madhe e suljotëve (që s’mundi të hidhej në Korfuz me Foto Xhavellën), e nisur për në Pargë, ndeshet në fillimet e vitit 1804 me forcat e Ali Pashës. Mjaft prej tyre nuk pranojnë të dorëzohen dhe vazhdojnë luftën gjersa shfarosen, ndërsa një grup grash suljote për të mos renë në duar të armikut, në çastin e fundit, dredhin e këndojnë këtë valle lamtumirë, dhe njëra pas tjetrës me fëmijët në krahë hidhen në greminë nga shkëdmbenjt e Zallongut, duke u bërë copë-copë. [This is the «Dance of Zalongo». As is known, the majority of the Souliotes (who could not go across to Corfu with Photos Tzavella), started to go toward Parga, encountered at the beginning of 1804 the forces of Ali Pasha. Many of them refused to surrender and continued to fight until they were destroyed, while a group of Souliote women not fallen into the hands of the enemy, at the last minute, they sung this dance of goodbye, and one after the other children in their arms were thrown into the abyss upon the rocks of Zalongo, becoming pieces.]"
Papaspyrou-Karadēmētriou, Euthymia; Lada-Minōtou, Maria; Ethniko Historiko Mouseio (Greece) (1994). The National Historical Museum. Athens, Greece: Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece. ISBN960-85573-0-5.
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