Mountza

Single moutza.
Double moutza.
People giving moutzas to the Greek parliament during the Indignant Citizens Movement. Lower left, see double moutza, lower middle, see single moutza

A mountza (μούντζα [ˈmund͡za]) (or moutza (μούτζα [ˈmud͡za])) or faskeloma (φασκέλωμα [fasˈce̞lo̞ma]) is the most traditional gesture of insult among Greeks: it consists of extending all fingers of one or both hands and presenting the palm or palms towards the to-be-insulted person in a forward motion.

It is often coupled with the expletives να (na, 'here') and παρ'τα (par'ta, 'take these'). The closer the gesture is to the other person's face, the more threatening it's considered.

An even more offensive version is achieved by using both hands to double the gesture, smacking the palm of one hand against the back of the other, in the direction of the intended recipient.[1]

If a Greek wants to hand-signal the number 5 to someone, they take care not to overextend the fingers, or to face their palm towards themselves and the back of the hand towards the intended recipient of the signal, lest it be mistaken for a moutza.

Closed moutza

A closed (or polite) moutza consists of keeping the tips of all five fingers together and pointing towards the targeted person. Sometimes this gesture is completed with only three fingers being half opened (thumb, index and middle).

The targeted person can be called upon to blow on the fingers in order to make them open into a full moutza. In this case it is accompanied by the imperative fisa! (blow!).

Origin

The origin of the gesture can be traced back to the ancient years, when it was used as a curse. It is said that even during the Eleusinian Mysteries, it complemented verbal curses against evil forces. It was then called φασκέλωμα faskelōma; that word and its variant faskelo still survive as synonyms of moutza.

In later years, the name changed to moutza in the penal code of the Byzantine Empire, whereby a chained criminal was paraded around town sitting, facing backwards, on a donkey and with their face smeared with cinder (μούντζος moutzos) to enhance their ridicule.

Because cinder was wiped on the person's face first by collecting it in the palm and then by extending open the fingers, the gesture itself became insulting, to be known as moutza, after the name of the material applied. The modern Greek word moutzoura or mountzoura for a smudge, scribble or dark stain has the same origin.

Around the world

The gesture of moutza does not have the same significance in other cultures around the world. In a few countries there are similar gestures. Their significances are:

References

  1. This can be seen at 0:26 in an advertisement for Aegean Airlines.
  2. "Kass: Nah! Chicago". Chicago Tribune. 2012-02-15. Retrieved 2013-10-06.

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.