Paper Eagles

On February 27th 2023, we went to fly kites as per the Clean Monday tradition on Filopappou hill in Athens. We bought cheap kites, Lagana bread (made for Clean Mondays only) and halvah. The hill was full of kite-flying and picnicing families. We watched the kites soar, specs in the sky. Afterword, we wandered through the olive trees, following the notes of Clarino music, and joined the traditional dances.

The very next day, one of the worst train wrecks in Greece's history took the lives of 57 people in Tempi, on the way from Athens to Thessaloniki. I wondered: How many of those people were with us the day before, flying their kites? This song was written for them.