Transhumance as main economical activity of the Vlachs of N. Pindus

The villages of the Vlach nomads in N. Pindus Mountain were created by joining the ‘katouna’ and their change to constant mountainous settlements and communities. The economy of these villages was supported mainly by sheep and goat husbandry. The inhabitants of the Vlach villages of Pindus had to search for the environment that should supply their animals with fodder and water of high quality and quantity and favorable temperatures. Livestock husbandry had the character of transhumance, six months in the mountains, which the Vlachs used to consider as their main ‘basis’ and six months in the lowlands, the winter pastures. The most common organization of the society of the Vlachs was “tseligato” (stockbreeding clan), an autonomous and closed, economical and cultural, unit, consisted of several families. In this paper this specific form of enterprise is described, which organization was based on complementarity between stock and labor and mule-driving as well, which for the Vlachs was secondary activity, supplementary to livestock husbandry. Finally, the routes which the Vlachs used to follow going to their winter pastures, which were located mainly in Thessaly and Macedonia and the reasons which led to the decline of transhumance are mentioned.