On Mount Athos, Greece, only monks live and this means that each and every one on the island carries a beard. The beard, on this location, is non-negotiable. The beard is everything.
They have no use for the beardless; you’re not welcome. No woman’s foot, no child’s foot, no foot of a lanky boy with a wispy mustache, no foot of a grown man with a receding hairline may touch ground. The line is drawn at the beard: a face-dominating beard.
If you have such a beard, doors will open, and—so they say— grant access to a grand monastery by the sea with stunning prayer halls, frescoes, and a studio where Orthodox icons are being painted. Here and there, too, one might spot a clock.
It’s these clocks of Mount Athos that this text is truly about. The bells are reset every day. Every morning, anew. Time begins when the sun rises. Sunrise equals 0:00 o’clock. From there, they count forward. The island of beards follows the sun.
And isn’t that a clever idea, really? Doesn’t our body sync its inner rhythms to the light? Aren’t some of us clearer, more curious, more exuberant on a summer evening than in the dead of winter? Isn’t it wonderful to lose track of time in summer?
And isn’t an endless summer day the perfect time to come together, to learn and study? Perhaps this is what Robert Ssempijja thought when organizing a summer camp. At the Black Study Summercamp, he’ll gather with other makers of colour in Sweden to exchange experiences and ideas. The camp takes place from July 20–24 at Dansplats Skog, Gävleborg.