Perasma

Perasma Πέρασμα
Location
Perasma
Coordinates	40°45′N 21°28′E
Location within the regional unit
Government
Country:	Greece
Region:	West Macedonia
Regional unit:	Florina
Municipality:	Florina
Population statistics (as of 2001)
Municipal unit
- Population:	5,510
Other
Time zone:	EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Auto:	ΡΑ

Perasma (Greek: Πέρασμα; Macedonian Slavic: Кучковени or Кучкојни, Kučkoveni or Kučkojni, Greek: Κουτσκοβαίνη, Koutskovaini ) is a village and a former municipality in Florina regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Florina, of which it is a municipal unit. It is located in a plain, 6 km southeast of Florina. The population was 5,510 in 2001.

Geography

Perasma is approximately 9km outside the city of Florina and is currently neighboured by the villages of Ammochori, Skopia, Kolchiki, and Tropaiouchos.

Etymology

Before the Hellenisation of the village name in 1926 , the village was locally known as Kučkoveni or Kučkojni. The name has said to come about during the 15th century. Kučko in the local Slavic dialect means female dog, which depicts a tale that has been passed down from the great forefathers of the village.

Originally, there was a church that was situated just north of the original village (which was back then known as Krušovo Slavic: Крушово, Greek: Κρούσοβος, Krousovos). During this time, the locals believed that their village and people were under a so called curse which resulted with many dying, and with the reason unknown.

One day, a female dog ironically ran past the village's church and had ten little babies, all of whom were extremely healthy and nurtured by their mother.

A male villager, who was making his way to worship in the church, found the female dog and her babies. The man was astonished about what he had just saw, so went back to the main village in order to explain to the others.

Once the locals heard, they were in a state of shock, and they finally believed that there was a good sign of hope and health near the region of the holy church.

So, as time went on, they finally decided to burn down the original village and create a new one north of the church, and see if this "curse" would eventually subside.

From them on this plague which killed nearly everything in the region had stopped and the population overall grew miraculously.

The new Greek name for the village, Perasma, directly transliterates to pathway. In some other historical documents, the name in Greek has also been Skylochori (Greek: Σκυλοχώρι) meaning dog village.

History

The settlement was first mentioned in an Ottoman defter of 1481, under the name of Kučkovjani, and was described as having sixty-seven households. The locals of the village produced many freshly-grown crops that were kept or sold in the Florinian markets, like garlic and onions.

The village, during the Ottoman Empire, was under the Church Dioscese of Kastoria, where their main monastery, Agioi Anargyroi, was built in 1300.

Throughout the rise of Bulgarian nationalism in Macedonia, and the newley created Bulgarian Exarcharte in the 1870s, Andrej Tošev (Bulgarian council from Monastir) notes that Kučkojni was still under the Patriarchate up until 1902. After that, a great amount of Kučkovci (Slavic: Кучковци, Greek: Κουτσκοβίτες, Koutskovites - meaning people of Kučkoveni/Kučkojni) followed the Bulgarian cause. It has been said that at one point in time there was only one Greek Orthodox church functioning, with the rest Bulgarian. As a result of this, the village created such revolutionary figures as Deljo Stoev (Slavic: Делјо Стоев) - the Florina leader of the Bulgarian-Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.

The first school of the village taught the Greek language to the pupils, and after 1912, included teachers like A. Kousmanis (Greek: Α. Κουσμάνης) from the village of Skopia (Greek: Σκοπιά, Slavic: Невољани - Nevoljani), G. Konidis (Greek: Γ. Κονίδης), K. Gitskalis (Greek: Κ. Γκιτσκάλης), P. Klekatsis (Greek: Π. Κλεκάτσης), G. Papadimitriou (Greek: Γ. Παπαδημητρίου) from Perasma and Papanousis (Greek: Παπανούσης) from Drosopigi (Greek: Δροσοπηγή, Slavic: Белкамен - Belkamen).

During the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II, the Germans placed a Bulgarian council in Perasma, which consisted of local people from the village such as Kosta Nedelkov (Slavic: Коста Неделков, Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κυριακόπουλος - Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos, after 1912), Todor Popdimitrov (Slavic: Тодор Попдимитров, Greek: Θεόδωρος Παπαδημητρίου - Theodoros Papadimitriou, after 1912), Nase Gagapov (Slavic: Насе Гагапов), Ilija Popstojanov (Slavic: Илия Попстоянов, Greek: Ηλίας Παπαϊωάννου - Ilias Papaioannou, after 1912), Dimitrija Kinčarov (Slavic: Димитрија Кинчаров, Greek: Δημήτριος Κιντσάρης - Dimitrios Kintsaris, after 1912), Pandel Gičkarov (Slavic: Пандел Гичкаров, Greek: Παντελής Κωνσταντινίδης - Pantelis Konstantinidis, after 1912), Nikola Popstojanov (Slavic: Никола Попстоянов, Greek: Νικόλαος Παπαϊωάννου - Nikolaos Papaioannou, after 1912), Stojan Tafilov (Slavic: Стоян Тафилов, Greek: Ιωάννης Ταφίλης - Giannis Tafilis, after 1912), Ilija Pirganov (Slavic: Илия Пирганов, Greek: Ηλίας Μπούτης - Ilias Boutis, after 1912) and Boris Nedelkov (Slavic: Борис Неделков, Greek: Μπόρις Κυριακόπουλος - Boris Kyriakopoulos, after 1912).