The Holy Snakes of Mary
Visitors to the church in the enchanting village of Markopoulo in the beautiful island of Kefalonia in Greece are greeted by an unusual depiction of The Virgin. It shows her with arms stretching sideways, holding bunches of snakes in the palms of her hands. It could be compelling to compare her with figurines of Minoan snake-goddesses on the basis of the ancient history of the region.
However, the phenomenon known as The Snakes of the Virgin occurs within the context of Orthodox Christianity. According to the church booklet, the miraculous tale began in 1400. Where the church of Markopoulo stands today was a convent which was subject to pirates' attacks. On each occasion the convent was looted and the nuns were brutalised. In 1705, the pirates' third attack was not successful. As soon as their ship was noticed, the nuns began praying to The Virgin before her silver icon asking her to save them. When the pirates arrived to the church it was full of hissing snakes with white crosses on the top of their heads and on their tongues. The crosses on the snakes resembled the ones imprinted on the robes of the Orthodox Christian nuns. According to the tale, the nuns were transformed into snakes by The Virgin in order to protect them from the pirates, who were repelled by the frightening snakes. The pirates burnt the church but the silver icon survived and the church of Markopoulo was built on the spot in which the icon, guarded by the same type of snakes, was later discovered.
The tale was not forgotten but transformed into a living myth through the mysterious mediation of the snakes. Every year on the 6th of August, the Day of Transfiguration, snakes appear inside and outside the church. The snakes are unusually friendly, crawl on the visitors and lick them like cats. They disappear after the day of the Virgin on the 15th and as the locals say, no one knows where they come from and where they go. The feast of the Holy Snakes of Mary attracts large crowds and sometimes thousands of pilgrims attend it.
