The Virgin's Serpents, Kefalonia
Markopoulo is a small hamlet on the road between the two main villages of the island of Kefalonia, on the side of a mountain, enjoying a superb view of the sea. Each year, on the feast of the Falling Asleep of the Virgin (August 15th) a strange phenomenon occurs. During the religious services, small snakes, marked on their heads with a black mark like the sign of the cross, emerge near the bell tower, and make their way towards the church itself.
These serpents enter the church through holes created for the bell ropes. They crawl over the furniture and over the people gathered there. They seem to make for the bishop’s throne, and the icon of the Virgin in particular. These snakes, called “Our Lady’s snakes” are harmless, and are welcomed by the people, most of whom will have come precisely to witness this event. They disappear after the celebrations as mysteriously as they arrived.
Except at this time of the year, the snakes are quite invisible. Local people go out in the evening to seek for them on the evening of the 14th, and tell the others when they have seen them, because it is believed that their appearance is a good omen, and forecasts a bountiful year to follow.
For example, older inhabitants say that in 1940 the snakes did not appear. During the following year, Greece was invaded by the Axis Forces; and the serpents failed several times to appear during the course of the Occupation.
They also did not put in an appearance in 1953, the year when the island was struck by a catastrophic earthquake.
Many visitors have remarked upon the surprising behaviour of the snakes inside the building. Usually they avoid human beings, but at this time they seem uncharacteristically tame, and quite unperturbed at being handled.
When the village was attacked by the pirates of Barbarossa in 1705, the nuns in a convent there prayed to the Virgin to be transformed into snakes in order to avoid being captured. It is said that their prayers were answered, and a miracle took place. The pirates were appalled, when they entered the precincts of the monastery, to see the floor, walls and icons covered with snakes. Since then, the snakes have returned to the village at this time of the year.
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