Agii Vavatsinias is a village in the province of Larnaka, southerly of the forest of Macheras, 700 meters above sea level. It is one of the most beautiful villages of Cyprus, where the houses are built on the chestnut-colored igneous hills.
The altitude and the deep valleys that are protected from the winds help for the growth of many and various cultures. Here they are cultivated the vines, the tall vine-arbors that give shade in front of the houses, the olives, carobs, almond trees, the citrus fruits and particular the tangerines tree, the fig trees, the pomegranates, almost all fruits and vegetables, particular the mulberry, the well known "vavatsinia" from which the village took its name.
Population
The community had enough fluctuations of its population. The residents from 260 in1881 increased to 325 in 1911, to 339 in 1931 and to 397 in 1960. The plague of urbanism and emigration affected the community and as a result the population began to decrease and reached 203 in 1976, in order to increase once again to 244 in 1982. In the last inventory of 2001, the residents were measured to be 177.
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Year
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Population
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Year
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Population
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1881
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260
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1976
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203
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1911
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325
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1982
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244
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1931
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339
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2001
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177
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1960
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397
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Church and Holy water Ayion (Saints) Anargiron in Ayious Vavatsinias
Somewhere in the center is found the three-sloped church of the village, dedicated to Agios Cosmas and Damianos, a building of 1871, above the base of another smaller church. Its engraved temple is from the 19th century. What particularly impresses someone in this church, is an Italian chair, remnant of the 16th century. Little outside from the village, it is found a holy water place that according to tradition it was used by Agios Cosmas and Damianos to irrigate their horses. The residents of the village believe that this holy water has therapeutic attributes.
Local products
At the village there are enough cauldrons used for the manufacture of "Zivania" (alcoholic drink) and also there is one old winepress used for the production of local wine.
Agii Vavatsinias is famous for their embroideries. The history of the manufacture of embroideries, "lefkara type", is lost in the centuries. Somewhere 50 women deal exclusively with the manufacture of embroideries while tradesmen of embroideries from the village, in order to satisfy the needs of their customers, they employee women from the neighboring villages and even from the city of Larnaka.
The community in order to maintain its roots, worked with wooden coal, developed the manufacture of embroideries, silver, wine and Zivania and cultivated almost every species of tree.
Dam
In the frames of Pitsilia Plan, there were manufactured in 1980 two dams having capacity 53.000 and 55.000 cubic meters respectively. It is expected that more green spaces will be created in the very small orchards of the region that are found on the sides of the narrow valley and also the average annual income of the village will be increased.
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