Elafos, Pieria

Greece Greece

Administrative Region : Central Macedonia
Regional unit : Pieria

Elafos is a semi-mountainous settlement in the prefecture of Pieria. It is located at an altitude of 345 m, near the Pieria Mountains, and has 499 residents, based on the 2001 Census. Its location is in the northwestern part of the prefecture of Pieria, on the border with the prefecture of Imathia, to which it belonged until 1974. It falls administratively under the Municipality of Katerini. The residents are engaged in the cultivation of tobacco and wheat. The distance of Elafos from Katerini is 15 kilometers.

Historical information

The name of the original village where the residents lived until 1940 was Elafina and is due to the many deer that lived in the forests of the village in the old days. This village is located[1] in the current prefecture of Imathia. Today, together with five other settlements, they form the Municipality of Makedonida.

In 1940, Elafina was burned down by the Germans and destroyed. The residents built their new houses in the area called Kalyvia, where the current village is located. The origin of the residents is from Imathia.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in the period after the liberation and in the interwar years, small and large winter camps of Arvanitovlachs and Vergiana Vlachs[2] were located in the village.

Infrastructure

Elafos has a two-seater Primary School along with a single-seater kindergarten, with around 30 children in total. There is a cooperative that helps farmers, a rural clinic in the Community building. The village has a central church, that of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Also of interest are the chapel of Agia Varvara and Agios Georgios. It has a sports club (GAS Tavros Elafou - competes in the A' amateur football category) and a cultural club, "Elafina". Until recently, the village used to host a reenactment of the old wedding, with satirical elements. Of great interest is the route from the village of Elafos to the old village, Elafina, which is approximately 15 km away. The road is mountainous at an altitude of 500-800 m. and features extremely rich vegetation of natural trees (oaks, beeches, horse chestnuts, etc.), a flora of rare wild flowers and grasses, among which one can find oregano, linden, various herbs, wild vines, therapeutic bulbs, etc. The animals that live in the mountains consist of deer, hares, wolves, foxes, various migratory birds. Many free streams are formed by the large volume of rain, which end in small and large rivers which are used for the needs of the farmers who deal in addition to tobacco and wheat, with new olive groves and small vine cultivation. In Elafos there is also a legal winery for the production of tsipouro.
References

"Settlements Pieries-Elafina". Archived from the original on December 12, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
I. Kaztaridis, The Vlachs of Katerini

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Elafos Ioannina
Elafos Larissa
Elafos Pieria

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