Father’s Day is a time to reflect on the men who shaped our lives, in all their complexity — their struggles, triumphs, and the legacies they leave behind. In kicking off our special coverage, contributor Dora Houpis remembers her father, Spiros Houpis, affectionately nicknamed “Mahalomagkas” after a beloved Tsitsanis song, and reflects on the memories and lessons he left her.
Now, Neos Kosmos invites you, our readers, to share your own stories of your fathers. Send your reflections to editor@neoskosmos.com.au or by post to Neos Kosmos, 27/574 Plummer St, Port Melbourne, 3207, and join us in honouring the fathers and father figures who continue to live on in our hearts.
Spiros Houpis, o Mahalomagas
Do you know him, baby children, the neighborhood’s fault?
They call him a machoman, he has no drama in mind!
Natos and e
Natos and comes with fury
and with Mr.
and with new suits!
The man does the hard work and he gets bored of the job
And for the leaf’s jump it is immediately gone!
Mahalo
Mahalomagas in the fun
with latte
with a lantern and with a defi!
With fear, he brings the little ones in his nets and they all go crazy for him, even if he loves and beats!
Mahalo
Mahalomagkas in the strata
Proud
is proud to be full!
In foreign concerns, he always shows great zeal, and wherever there is a quarrel in the neighborhood, he picks up the wood!
Mahalo
Mahalomaga to live,
let them
Leave the misunderstandings!
Song: Sot. Bellou, St. Perpiniadis. Zeibekiko. Recorded in late 1948 or early 1949
*(Lyrics: Vassilis Tsitsanis. Song: Sotiria Bellou, Stellios Perpiniadis, recorded late 1948 or early 1949, Tsitsanis Museum 2025)
My father was known as Tsitsanis’s “scoundrel”.
Not literally, of course. But my father Spiros Houpis, had a favourite Greek song as a teenager living in Nea Kerdillia, the last village of the prefecture of Serres, in northern Greece. Its title would become his nickname and villagers would still affectionately call him by that name when he visited his town as recently as 2019.The song was “O Mahalomagkas (The Scoundrel)” written by songwriter, bouzouki player and a founder of modern Rebetiko and Laiko music, Vassilis Tsitsanis. It was made famous by singing stars Sotiria Bellou and Stellios Perpiniadis, in the late 1940s. The song was about a young popular neighbourhood tough guy.
Fellow villagers , or “Kerdillioti” as they are known, still remembered my father, the “Mahalomagka” so much so a poem was penned.
It was written by fellow villager, retired educator, former Nea Kerdillia primary school teacher, Nea Kerdillia councillor and Kapodistrian Municapility of Amphipolis councillor and deputy mayor, Michalis Farazas.
Farazas’s poem titled, ‘Ο Μαχαλόμαγκας (Σπύρος Χούπης)’ or ‘The Mahalomagkas (Spiros Houpis)’ talks about my father’s soccer prowess, mayoralty, marrying and having children, migration to Australia, nostalgia for his village, how he used to send villagers name day cards and his returning to his village for holidays, including at 84-years-old in 2017, when the poem was written. The poet, in his 60s, laments how my father is old, as are his relatives and friends in the village, and that he wants Mr Spiro, “O Mahalomagkas”, to tell them stories before he is forgotten by the village’s younger generation.
I can imagine my father when Tsitsanis’s hit song was released.
In 1950, my father was 17 years old. He would have been full of optimism. World War II and the Greek Civil War had ended, the government had rebuilt his decimated village on the main arterial road, the Thessaloniki-Kavala Highway, renamed it Nea Kerdillia and gave everyone houses. The new village was bereft of the 230 men and fathers who were killed by the Nazis, on 17 October 1941 and saturated with widows, but it was brimming with young children embarking on adulthood.
My father was among them. He had resumed primary school, was an apprentice builder, partied and with his mates serenaded the young girls with folk songs from music icons like Stelios Kazantzidis and Vassilis Tsitsanis. He was renown among the villagers for singing Tsitsanis’s, “O Mahalomagkas”.
My father died 92-years-old, five months ago on 29 March.
Father’s Day on Sunday 7 September will be my first without him.
His death is still raw and my thoughts are muddled. Two things I know so far.
I regret never learning to dance the butcher’s dance, hasapiko, the way he did.
And my father gave me the biggest compliment of my life a few months before he died. Sick, weak and increasing reliant on we children for his daily care, one day he told me he trusted me so emphatically that he would follow me to the end of the earth.
“Θεοδώρα, σε έχω απόλυτη εμπιστοσύνη. Θα σε ακολουθήσω στα εσχατα της γης” – “Theodora, I have complete trust in you. I will follow you to the ends of the earth,” he said.
This Father’s Day I will go to what he used to call his “παντοτινό σπίτι” or forever home here on earth: It’s his grave site, at the top of the row, at “The Pines” Greek Orthodox section, at Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Princes Hwy, Springvale, in Melbourne’s south-east. I will go an hour before closing, at 4pm. I will fill his vases with fresh flowers, clear the leaves from his grave and light his oil lamp. I will wait until the sun begins to set at 4.45pm. Then I will turn to my left and see the spectacle of light: hundreds and hundreds of “καντήλια” oil lamps burning.
And like the last words in Tsitsanis’s song, “The Mahalomagkas” , my father and all fathers will live on in our hearts and we will forget all their faults and all the misunderstandings.
*Dedicated to all the fathers and “μαχαλόμαγκοι”.
Below is the poem in Greek
Ο Μαγαλόμαγκας (Σπύρος Χούπης)
1. Νέος με μακριά μαλλιά, τα παντελόνια του φαρδιά δεξί εξτρέμ στην μπάλα, γεννημένος για μεγάλα.
2. Χρήστος, Λιάμτσος, Μποϊκούδης, τα ταλέντα της εποχής μα δεξί στρίφει ο Σπύρος, άλλος Χατζηπαναγής.
3. Με ταχύτητα μεγάλη, δυο-δυο τους περνά τα αντίπαλα τα δίχτυα, με την μπάλα τα τρυπά.
4. Μαχαλόμαγκα τον λένε, χαϊδευτικά οι χωριανοί μα η καρδιά του κυρ-Σπύρου, είναι ευαίσθητη πολύ.
5. Σοβαρεύτηκε μετά, παντρεύτηκε και με παιδιά με Θοδώρα, Αγγελικούλα και Θωμά, οικογένεια-δουλειά.
6. Πρόεδρος έμελε να γίνει, τα Κερδύλλια να σώσει πρώτη άσφαλτο να στρώσει, το χωριό να βελτιώσει.
7. Αποφάσισε να φύγει, τα πουλάει ξαφνικά σπίτια και περιουσία, για να πάει στην Αυστραλία.
8. Πάνε χρόνια τώρα πια, που είναι τόσο μακριά μα ο νους του νοερά, στα Κερδύλλια γυρνά.
9. Κάρτες σ’ όλους έχει στείλει, από τόσο μακριά έστελνε σε μένα μία, να μου πει Χρόνια Πολλά.
10. Τώρα πάλι επιστρέφει, στα Κερδύλλια ξανά τους δικούς του να αγκαλιάσει, η ψυχή του να αγαλιάσει.
11. Σύνταξη όμως έχει βγει, πέρασαν τα χρόνια κι αν γνωρίσει στα παιδιά, ποιος να ξέρει το μετά.
12. Γι’ αυτό τώρα που είναι κοντά μας, θέλουμε όλα να μας τα πει γιατί όλοι αγαπούμε, τον κυρ-Σπύρο αθλητή! Στίχοι: Μιχάλης Φαραζάς Νέα Κερδύλλια 10-8-2017 Αφιερωμένο με απεριόριστη εκτίμηση στον κ. Σπύρο. Με αληθινή φιλική αγάπη: Μιχάλης Φαραζάς
In English
1. Young man with long hair, his pants wide right winger on the ball, born for big.
2. Christos, Liamtsos, Boykoudis, the talents of the time, but Spyros turns right, another Hatzipanagis.
3. At high speed, he passes the opponents’ nets two by two, with the ball he pierces them.
4. He is called Mahalomagas, the villagers caress him, but Mr. Spyros’ heart is very sensitive.
5. He then got serious, got married and had children with Theodora, Angelikoula and Thomas, a family-work.
6. He was to become President, Kerdyllia to save the first asphalt to be paved, the village to improve.
7. He decided to leave, he suddenly sells his houses and property, to go to Australia.
8. It’s been years now, when it’s so far away, but his mind mentally turns to Kerdyllia.
9. He has sent cards to everyone, from so far away he sent me one, to say Happy Birthday.
10. Now he returns again, to Kerdyllia again to embrace his relatives, his soul to rejoice.
11. But retirement has come out, the years have passed and if he meets the children, who knows what will happen next.
12. That’s why now that he’s with us, we want him to tell us everything because we all love Mr. Spyros as an athlete! Lyrics: Michalis Farazas Nea Kerdyllia 10-8-2017 Dedicated with unlimited appreciation to Mr. Spiros. With true friendly love: Michalis Farazas
