KAIROS - GOD OF HAPPY MOMMENT
And who are you?
Time who subdues all things.
Why do you stand on tip-toe?
I am ever running.
And why you have a pair of wings on your feet?
I fly with the wind.
And why do you hold a razor in your right hand?
As a sign to men that I am sharper than any sharp edge.
And why does your hair hang over your face?
For him who meets me to take me by the forelock.
And why, in Heaven's name, is the back of your head bald?
Because none whom I have once raced by on my winged feet will now, though he
wishes it sore, take hold of me from behind.
In a small but exceptionally valuable collection of artistic works, in
the Convent of St. Nicholas in Trogir (convent was founded 900 years ago by the
Benedictine nuns), the most prominent place is held by the
famous marble relief of Kairos from 3rd century BC. God Kairos, according to
Greek mythology, passes
by mortals, always in a hurry, and brings an opportunity - a "happy moment" - to the one who manage
to catch his hair tuft.
Kairos
According to ancient Greeks, Kairos was the god of the „happy moment“, a
favorable opportunity. The ancient Greeks had two words for time,
chronos and kairos. While the chronos refers to chronological or
sequential time, the kairos signifies a moment of undetermined period of
time in which something special happens. Kairos is the right time,
opportune time or seasonable time. It cannot be measured. It is the
perfect time, the qualitative time, the perfect moment, the “now.” Such
a moment must be grasped; otherwise the moment is gone and can not be
re-captured. In the midst of the ordinary time (kronos), extraordinary
time (kairos) happens.
Kairos was known in Greek mythology as the youngest child of the god
Zeus. Kairos is represented as a young and beautiful god. Opportunity
obviously never gets old, and beauty is always opportune, flourishing in
its own season. Kairos stands on tiptoe because he is always running,
and he has wings on his feet to fly with the wind. He holds a scales
balanced on a sharp edge - attributes illustrating the fleeting instant
in which occasions appear and disappear.
Kairos can easily be seized by the long forelock of hair hanging over
his face ("creeping down over the eyebrows") when he is arriving. But
once he has passed by, no one can grasp him, the back of his head being
bald. The moment of action is gone with his hair: a neglected occasion
cannot be recovered.
So, don't miss your opportunity! Visit Trogir and grasp Kairos by his
long forelock! You will definitely enjoy an extraordinary time in this
extraordinary city and we hope that you will have many happy moments
here and create many good memories.
