Katavasia

DIMITRI CONOMOS

The concluding stanza of an ode, so called because originally the two choirs of singers at this point came down (Gk. katavaino, “go down”) from their stalls and joined in the middle of the church (a custom maintained by some monasteries in Lent). On Sundays and feasts there is a katavasia at the end of every ode, but on ordinary weekdays at the end of the third, sixth, eighth, and ninth odes only. Festal katavasiai are sung in anticipation of a great feast and often continue to its afterfeast. For example, the katavasiai for Christmas begin on November 21.