Avgerinos

Avgerinos
Αυγερινός
Community
Main square of Avgerinos
Main square of Avgerinos
Avgerinos is located in Greece
Avgerinos
Avgerinos
Location within Greece
Coordinates: 40°14′23″N 21°09′45″E / 40.23972°N 21.16250°E / 40.23972; 21.16250
CountryGreece
Administrative regionWestern Macedonia
Regional unitKozani
MunicipalityVoio
Municipal unitTsotyli
Elevation
1,050 m (3,440 ft)
Population
 (2021)
 • Community
138
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Avgerinos (Greek: Αυγερινός; formerly Kostantsikon (Κωνστάντσικον)) is a mountain village and community in the Tsotyli municipal unit of Voio, Kozani regional unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. It lies at an elevation of approximately 1,050 m (3,440 ft) and had a permanent population of 138 in the 2021 census. Avgerinos is traditionally included among the mastorochoria, villages associated with builders and stonemasons, and the kastanochoria, or chestnut-growing villages, of the Voio area.

A settlement identified with Avgerinos appears in an Ottoman tax register of 1530. The village later developed traditions of education, itinerant stoneworking and emigration; its cultural heritage includes a nineteenth-century church, a folklore museum and local musical traditions.

Geography

Avgerinos lies in the foothills of Voio, on the eastern side of the northern Pindus range. The village is surrounded by chestnut forests, with the Profitis Ilias mountain mass behind it, and overlooks the Aliakmon valley and Askio. It has four traditional quarters, or mahalades: Epano, Kato, Katidiko and Gyftomachalas.

History

Historian Georgios Tsotsos identifies present-day Avgerinos with the settlement recorded as Kostanicko in an Ottoman tax register of 1530, which listed 87 households. A regional heritage guide hosted by the University of Western Macedonia describes the settlement at its present site as small in the late 17th century and states that it expanded in the early 18th century as inhabitants of nearby settlements moved there.

Historically, local livelihoods included livestock raising, forestry, trade and masonry. Cheesemaking was also practiced, including the production of batzos cheese.

A 2013 article in the Greek-American publication Cosmos Philly reports that emigrants from Avgerinos settled in Constantinople during the 19th century, where they worked as merchants and builders. According to the article, they established the Society of Avgerinos Agia Paraskevi to support infrastructure, schools and churches in the village. It also reports that emigrants in Brockton, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire, formed an association under the same name in 1909, and that later communities in Philadelphia and Atlantic City helped finance the village community centre in 1988.

In 1918, Kostantsikon became the seat of the community of the same name. The settlement was officially renamed Avgerinos in 1927. During the Axis occupation of Greece, historian Vaios Kalogrias records that the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) arrested several non-communist officers in Avgerinos in 1943. According to Kalogrias, they were later brought before partisan courts in Vouhorina and executed in mid-April.

In 1997, Avgerinos was incorporated into the municipality of Tsotyli. Following the 2010 Kallikratis reform, it became part of the municipality of Voio.

Population

The permanent population recorded by the Hellenic Statistical Authority in recent censuses was:

Census year Permanent population
2001 260
2011 236
2021 138

Education and benefaction

The University of Western Macedonia heritage guide records the operation of a Greek school in Avgerinos before 1750. Vasileios Papaefthymiou, a teacher and translator from Kostantsikon, taught in Semlin and Vienna. His Greek translation of A Concise History of Greece was published in Vienna in 1807.

An educational survey dating to about 1875 recorded a school in Kostantsikon using the monitorial system, with two elementary classes and a preparatory class for further Greek schooling.

A local history published by MyVoio Magazine states that the later stone school building was inaugurated in 1952 and that the school ceased operating in 1996.

Georgios I. Karagiannis (1881–1963), who was born in Avgerinos, left part of his estate to the village's churches and to an educational scholarship endowment. The endowment, administered through the Municipality of Voio, awards scholarships to higher-education students originating from Avgerinos.

Culture and heritage

Architecture and religious heritage

Traditional structures in Avgerinos include two-storey stone houses and stone-built churches. The central Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos was rebuilt in 1846 and contains a walnut iconostasis and a collection of ecclesiastical objects. The churches of Agia Paraskevi and Agia Triada are situated outside the village.

A 2010 study by art historian Paraskevi Ch. Papadimitriou attributed an icon of Christ Pantocrator found in Avgerinos to Dionysius of Fourna.

Folklore museum

The former school building now houses a folklore museum established by the Avgerinos Women's Association and inaugurated in 2013. Its collections include historical photographs, regional dress, school and ecclesiastical objects, household items and tools associated with local occupations.

Music

Avgerinos is one of nine villages identified as the Zoupanochoria in an ethnomusicological study of the area. The study describes the music of these villages as combining Epirote and Macedonian elements. An Avgerinos resident interviewed by the researchers in 2016 recalled the use of violin, ntefi (frame drum) and clarinet before brass instruments became common, and associated Macedonian musical influences with the movement of itinerant stonemasons.

References

  1. ↑ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "Διοικητικές μεταβολές οικισμών: Αυγερινός (Κοζάνης)" [Administrative changes of settlements: Avgerinos (Kozani)]. Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government (in Greek). Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Η περιοχή του Τσοτυλίου και τα πέτρινα γεφύρια" [The Tsotyli area and the stone bridges]. University of Western Macedonia (in Greek). Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Αποτελέσματα της Απογραφής Πληθυσμού-Κατοικιών έτους 2021 που αφορούν στον Μόνιμο Πληθυσμό της Χώρας έως και το επίπεδο του οικισμού" [Results of the 2021 Population and Housing Census concerning the permanent population down to settlement level]. Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic, Series B, No. 2090 (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 7 April 2024. p. 21661. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  5. ↑ Tsotsos, Georgios (2014). "Το οικιστικό δίκτυο των περιοχών Καστοριάς-Βοΐου το 1530" [The settlement network of the Kastoria–Voio areas in 1530]. Κοζάνη, 600 χρόνια ιστορίας: Γένεση και ανάπτυξη μιας μακεδονικής μητρόπολης [Kozani, 600 years of history: Birth and development of a Macedonian metropolis] (in Greek). Municipality of Kozani. p. 59. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  6. ↑ Keisoglou, Vasilis (2013). "For the Love of Avgerinos". Cosmos Philly. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  7. ↑ Kalogrias, Vaios (December 2015). "Collaborationism and 'Red Terror' in Greek Macedonia, 1943–1944". Qualestoria. 43 (2): 104. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  8. ↑ "Μόνιμος πληθυσμός. Νομοί, δήμοι, κοινότητες, δημοτικά και κοινοτικά διαμερίσματα και οικισμοί" [Permanent population: prefectures, municipalities, communities, municipal and community districts, and settlements]. 2001 Population Census (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. p. 180. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  9. ↑ "Τροποποίηση της Απόφασης με αριθμό 11247/28.12.2012 και θέμα «Αποτελέσματα της Απογραφής Πληθυσμού-Κατοικιών 2011 που αφορούν στο Μόνιμο Πληθυσμό της Χώρας»" [Amendment to Decision 11247/28.12.2012 on the results of the 2011 Population and Housing Census concerning the permanent population]. Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic, Series B, No. 698 (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 20 March 2014. p. 10542. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  10. ↑ Karanasios, Chariton (2019). "Η παιδεία ως παράγωγο και παραγωγός λόγου, ήθους και συλλογικής αυτοσυνείδησης στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (16ος–19ος αι.)" [Education as a product and producer of discourse, ethos and collective self-awareness in Western Macedonia (16th–19th centuries)]. Η Δυτική Μακεδονία στους Νεότερους Χρόνους: Πρακτικά Α΄ Συνεδρίου Ιστορίας Δυτικής Μακεδονίας [Western Macedonia in Modern Times: Proceedings of the First Conference on the History of Western Macedonia] (in Greek). Vol. 1. Grevena: Society for Western Macedonian Studies. p. 581. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  11. ↑ "Ιστορία συνοπτική της Ελλάδος" [A Concise History of Greece]. SearchCulture.gr (in Greek). National Documentation Centre of Greece. 1807. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  12. ↑ Siokis, Nikolaos (2018). "Η εκπαίδευση στην Επαρχία Ανασελίτσας περί το 1875: εθνολογικές και κοινωνικές προεκτάσεις" [Education in the province of Anaselitsa around 1875: Ethnological and social dimensions]. Αλιάκμονος Ρους (in Greek). 2: 221–222. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  13. 1 2 "Το Δημοτικό Σχολείο του Αυγερινού" [The primary school of Avgerinos]. MyVoio Magazine (in Greek). 26 August 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  14. 1 2 "Δήμος Βοΐου: Υποτροφίες σε φοιτητές από το κληροδότημα Γεωργίου Καραγιάννη" [Municipality of Voio: Scholarships for students from the Georgios Karagiannis endowment]. ERT News (in Greek). 18 December 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  15. 1 2 "Χορήγηση δώδεκα υποτροφιών από το Κληροδότημα «Γεωργίου Ι. Καραγιάννη»" [Twelve scholarships from the Georgios I. Karagiannis endowment]. Municipality of Voio (in Greek). 29 March 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  16. 1 2 Otta, Tania (20 April 2021). "Αυγερινός: Αποδράστε στο καταπράσινο ορεινό Βόιο και γνωρίστε τα ξακουστά καστανοχώρια του" [Avgerinos: Explore mountainous Voio and its chestnut villages]. Together (in Greek). Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  17. ↑ Papadimitriou, Paraskevi Ch. (2010). "Άγνωστο έργο του Διονυσίου εκ Φουρνά στον Αυγερινό Κοζάνης" [An unknown work of Dionysius of Fourna in Avgerinos, Kozani]. Byzantina (in Greek). 30: 449–458. Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  18. 1 2 Kyratsou, Chrysi; Sotiraki, Katerina; Prezotto, Joseane; Brkljačić, Marko (10 October 2022). "'Naming the Baby': Music and boundary identities in Zoupanokhoria". Anthropology of East Europe Review. 38 (1): 95–111. doi:10.14434/aeer.v37i1.32057. Retrieved 5 September 2026.

Further reading