OLD AGISTRI ISLAND
From time to time, in its recent history, Agistri received many settlers, mainly Arvanites, from the 14th to the 17th century. AD, who came from the opposite coasts of the Peloponnese and Central Greece and settled west, next to Limni.
Later, due to pirate raids, they moved further south, creating the village of Limenaria.
The Arvanites mixed with the native inhabitants of Agistri and brought many of their traditions to Agistri. For this reason, even today, some old women wear plumed costumes decorated with siritia, yellow handkerchiefs and speak or sing Arvanitika.
The beginning of the 20th century finds some men engaged in agriculture (orchards, olives, vines, sparta, etc.), others being “resinades” (“they tapped” the pines and extracted the resin), many engaged in the sea (sailors or fishermen) and a few with animal husbandry (mainly sheep and goats), without missing and the other professions.
They worked from dawn, morning – morning, until dark, very hard to save only the necessities for their homes.
The women took care of the house, decorated it, washed it, cooked, baked sourdough bread in the stone oven they had in the house, took care of the children and went to the orchards. The older ones, together with the girls who were learning them, were engaged in embroidery, handicrafts, knitting and weaving with looms.
On Sundays or holidays the whole family went to Church. After the Church, the men would go to the few cafes in the villages, to meet their fellow villagers, tell their stories and drink local wine with appetizers of “carved tomato, kefalotyri, olives, onion and sourdough bread”.
An important day for the whole family was the day celebrated by the Patron Saint of the village. On that day in the villages of Agistrio, after the Church, there was a big festival, a custom that continues even today, in which, apart from the inhabitants of the village, almost all the inhabitants of the island took part.
It is a great joy for the children to buy toys or pastels and donuts from the outdoor vendors and all together to eat roast pork on a greaseproof paper, for the adults to drink local retsina and dance with drums and violins, in the Church Square.
At weddings and christenings and all celebrations they wore their “best”. The women’s costume was traditional and characterized by the elaborately embroidered apron, woven woolen bolka and yellow scarf, while the men wore dark trousers, a jacket with an open white shirt and the characteristic trajaska.
Agistri was first settled in its oldest settlement, Kantoudi (Paleochori), next to the pine forest and near one of the oldest churches of the island, the chapel of All Saints.
The capital of the island has always been Megalochori. Old-timers remember picturesque cobbled streets, stone houses, tiled roofs, white terraces, stone-built ovens, spotless courtyards, traditional cafes and elderly figures in local costumes, which together with the unique windmill, make up the past of the place.
The Municipality of Agistri was established for the first time by a Royal Decree in 1835, based in the settlement of Megalochori and belonged to the prefecture of Attica and Boeotia, until 1912 when it was abolished and recognized as a Community.
In 1835, during the census that took place at that time, 248 inhabitants were reported, which doubled in a few years. The population of Agistrio experienced an increase in the period 1879 – 1907, but until 1940 the population of the island remained small.
The island was electrified in 1973 and the ferry connection with Piraeus started in 1960, while until then the island had a boat connection with Aegina, Piraeus and the surrounding islands.
