XIROSTERNI Cretan village

Xirosterni is located at an altitude of 255 meters between Vamos and Kefalas. The name of the village comes from the words “dry” (xeró) and “cistern” (stérna), which indicates that there used to be cisterns in this area, which later dried up. According to oral tradition, the village has a second name, “Viola”, which was adopted as name of the Cultural Association of locals in Athens (est. 1982). 

We do not know when the village was founded, but it is mentioned by Barozzi in 1577 as Xerosterni, by Castrofilaca in 1583 as Xerostergni and by Basilicata in 1630 as Xerosterni. The village is not mentioned in Ottoman censuses, but it is mentioned by the Egyptian census of 1834, according to which Drapanos, Kefalas, Xirosterni, Souri, Sellia and Likotinara were inhabited by 300 Christian and 25 Muslim families.

The village has many interesting examples of folk architecture, while two of its houses have been designated as monuments. One of them belongs to the family of Ir. Papadaki and dates back to 1790, while the other belongs to the family of N. Mastorakis and includes a ground floor olive mill built in the early 19th century, above which a café was later built. Next to the latter is another olive mill which was built in the 19th century and belongs to G. Galanakis family. The church of the village is dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Savior (Metamorfosi tou Sotiros) and has an impressive wood-carved iconostasis. It celebrates on August 6 and on this occasion a celebration (paniyiri) is held here every year, which has been established as one of the most famous in Crete and Apokoronas. 

At the southwestern entrance of the village there is a monument to the most famous “child” of the village, the legendary lyra player Charilaos Piperakis, who was born in Xirosterni in 1895 and immigrated to the United States in 1911. There, he spread Cretan music among Cretans, Greeks and non-Greeks alike, encouraging the manifestation of a global interest in it. He died in California in 1978, without ever being able to return to Crete.

Administratively, the village is mentioned as Xirostérnion of the Municipality of Vamos in 1881 and 1900, part of the community of Vamos in 1925 and an independent community after 1928, to which Litsarda was annexed. In 1997 Xirosterni became part of the reconstituted Municipality of Vamos, which became a Municipal Unit of the Municipality of Apokoronas in 2010.