Gynaikokratia
8 January 2026 — Today the stars obey the midwife – and the men stay home!
Gynaikokratia (Greek for „rule of women“) is a folk custom held on 8 January, the day of the village midwife. It honours the woman who helps bring children into the world. In some places in northern Greece, including villages around Serres, women take over public life for a day: they gather in cafés and at feasts and enjoy themselves, while the men stay at home and look after the house and children. In Bulgaria a similar feast, Babinden („Granny’s Day“), is held on 8 January (in many places still on 21 January, by the old calendar) and is also devoted to midwives, whom young mothers bring gifts, pour water for them to wash their hands and treat them at a festive table. It falls in the depth of winter, when the nights are at their longest and the stars stay in the sky longer than at any other time. Details and locations of the custom vary from village to village, while the date is fixed in the calendar: 8 January.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation, of a cheerful old midwife with a headscarf, one arm raised as if conducting the stars
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