Becoming Stavros!

Being born is reputed to be a painful business for all parties involved. Well, sometimes, you have to be born again, perhaps for religious, bureaucratic, or other reasons. Take the case of Old Ken's friend here—a chap who is getting married this summer in a Greek orthodox service and thus had to be baptised and effectively born again in that tradition. He had to become Stavros.



What exactly is required for such a transformation? First, you want to get the lay of the land, or in this case, a sense of the sea.



Then, it's on to the chapel for some recitations of the religious creed, some incense and so on.



But, what's this? A bathrobe? Surely not!



Actually, yes. The priest takes the initiate and their god-parent down to the shore where more incantations can be delivered.



Because this priest is not the kind to scrimp on the ceremonies, this will offer you quite an opportunity to take in the scenery—in this case of the island of Salamina.



Now once the recitations and blessings (all in ecclestical Greek of course!) are complete, it's time for some disrobing and annointing. The oil here by Jo Malone of London.



Combine that dripping down your head into your eyes with the saltiness and rockiness of the beach and you've got yourself a good time. You also now have: Stavros!