Myths and Folklore
The legend and origins of the village of Lurucina is clouded in myths, stories and mystery. The most enduring myth of Lurucina is the fabled beauty Lorenzia – the origins of Lurucina are reputed to have been found by a Latin shepherd maiden during the Lusignan period, possibly in the 12 or the 13th century. Her name reputedly was Lorenzia and she used the stream or wells running in the village to water her sheep and goats (nowadays adjacent to the mosque) and eventually she built her home there. She had such beauty and elegance and charisma that people flocked to join her in making a home next to her. With a ready supply of fresh water and a lovely backdrop of hills, the fertile valley also became a small farming community. People would simply refer to the area as ”Lorenzia’s place and eventually a village was established.
Perhaps one of the most interesting names of the surrounding hills is “Shistra tou Thragu”, “Dev Yırtığı” in Turkish, which literally means “the den of the Dragon (or Giant)”. The story goes that a long time ago (unspecified time in history) a giant or a very large strong man lived between the crevices of that hill. He was a constant menace to the local people and very often would come down to the local settlements to harass and rob the people of food etc. Due to the lack of authority this went on for some considerable time.
The local people would pray to God in order to save them from this monster of a man and one day the weather was very bad. Rain, thunder and lightning was striking the hills at an alarming rate and once the weather improved the locals noticed that the giant had not been seen for a while. They soon wondered what happened, so a group decided to investigate. They eventually found the Giant dead between the crevices and their conclusion was that God had answered their prayers and struck the giant with lightning and tore the hillside apart forming a small canyon/crevice which then became “Shistra tou Thragu”.
The myths are based on old-time legends and not historical facts. The names of hills and fields no doubt have their origin in events, people, owners or peculiar shapes etc but this is not unique to our village. Although we know of roads and fields, we rarely ask ourselves of its origins. Luricina cannot be an exception – lets take some examples from other parts of the world and compare them to what we have in the village. Paris was named after an ancient tribe of Gauls the “Parisii”, Venice after the “Veneto”, Galatya in Turkey after the Gauls who settled there in ancient times, and more recently America the Continent after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. This only firms the belief that places like Laxia du Kapitanou, (field of the captain) Pallourogambos, thorny field) Alubo-lakos (fox pool) were named for a purpose. In more recent times “Gugo du bodiri” (shelter built with canes to protect from the sun) and of course the areas of the village like Muhtarlar, Muski, Gurello mahallesi are named after families.