ADELΦΟS | EVOO, dolphins and symbolisms

Dolphins are a God - given gift to help humanity as energy healers. They have been proved to help patients with depression, as they contribute to enhance their positive and joyful attitude towards life, children with autism, helping to improve their learning abilities, pregnant women during birth, as well as patients, with the prediction and healing of diseases through ultrasounds they produce, which have a similar function to medical ultrasound machines.

They guide whales to find their way and navigate the oceans in a secret way. They have telepathic abilities and speak an intellectual language. Many energetically aware people, believe that these beings are working and assisting in a great awakening of our consciousness.

Dolphins reach out to humans willingly, out of a friendly curiosity and with playful attitude. They often accompany sailors on their sea voyages, help them in fishing and even save people from drowning. They were the consistant and beloved companions of the legendary Minoan sea masters, on their voyages to trade olive oil, across the length and breadth of the earth for 4000 years.

They transmitted their joy of life to this creative and peace-loving people, just as they transmit it to us today. They were lovingly depicted in the frescoes of the Minoan palaces of Crete, in the pottery of Thira and the seal stones of the time, reflecting the absolute relationship of friendship and unity the Cretans had with nature and with each other.

The fruits of the Minoan unity, are peaked to this day, given the solidarity and cooperation spirit we find in the Agricultural Cooperatives of the island and especially in the Agricultural Cooperative of Zakros, consisted of 500 producers today. Cultivation of olives, olive fruit harvest, and olive oil production from the producers, their families and friends, accompanied by laughter, happy talks, chances for gatherings, good food and celebrations, have turned Zakros into much more than a village with olive groves.

It is an Olive Oil Politeia, a state of olive oil, where life is happening around the olive tree. Where life isn’t about the person on its own, rather than people walking hand in hand, just like in a traditional Cretan Dance, or a united team of dolphins travelling through a sea of olive groves.

What the visitors of Crete and especially Zakros, are experiencing here, is the elimination of loneliness. Solidarity within the fellowship, good food and mutual support, connect people beyond language and geographical barriers. Suddenly, oceans are being crossed and continents united. A mystical, intellectual communication emerges from human contact.

Each has his own idiom and favorite orchard in the world, yet under the olive tree that generously feeds all, they become what they really are, brothers. The bond between humans, creatures and natural elements, ultimately sustains creation.

Dolphins of the extra virgin olive oil ADELΦOS PDO Sitia Lasithiou Kritis, are also intertwined with the sunny Mediterranean, the original home of the olive tree. The dolphin, as the national animal of Greece, a country filled with islands and traditional sailor lifestyle, becomes a happy reminder of the Mediterranean summer and the healthy, natural life of the countries around the basin.

The importance of Mediterranean diet for health, as recorded based on the habits and rules of the Cretan diet, has been stressed by health experts, over decades. The scientific research that proves the contribution of the consumption of olive oil as a main fat, to the health of Cretans is reknown. Olive oil, the basis of the diet of the Mediterranean people, supports the body as a friend of the organism, contributing positively to a multitude of its functions. More than a friend though, it is made to take care of us like a real brother, with qualities than never stop to take scientists by surprise and motivate continuous research over the infinite contribution of Olive Oil to health.

The extra virgin olive oil ADELΦOS PDO Sitia Lasithiou Kritis, is especially designed to promote the product’s Hellenic origin, the colours and fellings of the Mediterranean and also the core brand values. This design was acknowledged at the Packaging Awards 2023, where our team has received the bronze award in the category of Marketing in a New International Market.

The apparent symbolism of dolphins, is healing, joy of life and friendship. The deeper symbolism though, is about the Apollonian, the crystalline Hellenic light. According to the myth told by Homer, god Apollo himself, taking the form of a dolphin, chose Cretan sailors from the Minoan Knossos to become his first Priests at the oracle of Delphi, forging unbreakable bonds between the two regions. After the establishment of the oracle of Delphi, many of the characteristics of Apollo, who is worshipfully called "delphinian", were also given to dolphins.

Apollo was the god of music, he played the guitar and lyre, sang and bewitched nature and the other gods. He was also the god of light, patron of the arts, health and abundance. Dolphins in the Greek mythology, as well as the tangible reality, love music. They even have musical preferences! According to Plinius, «the dolphin can be enchanted by music and harmony». Pythagoras, had experimented with the melodies that dolphins produce and their effect on humans.

Photo: Apollo column at Academy of Athens. Photo Credits: Yair Haklai - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

The meaning of harmony is depicted on our label by keeping the Greek letter φ (PHI=f) in the word ADELΦΟS. φ is the first letter of the Greek words for friendship (φιλία), the relationship binding peoples of the earth between them and with nature, also the word for fruity, (φρουτώδες) which is the dominant aroma of the extra virgin olive oil PDO Sitia Lasithiou Kritis. Moreover, the Greek letter φ is highly recognizable internationally and beloved by the scientific community as it symbolizes the golden ratio in mathematics, i.e. universal harmony.

The universal harmony is experienced in the taste of the delicate ADELΦOS extra virgin olive oil. Medium fruity, moderately spicy and bitter with soft and fresh aromatic notes of freshly cut grass, olive leaves, herbs and flowers of the Cretan land, it is balanced and delicious, harmonious like a sweet-sounding song on the palate.

The playful mood of the visual art of dolphins acquires a timeless value, thanks to the connection with the distant past, by the free rendering of the murals that captured the beloved animals of the legendary Thalassocracy, in the Minoan palaces. The reference to a civilization of thousands of years, in the midst of which, olive oil flows infinitely as a historic good, is completed by depicting the product brand name on the packaging, in Linear B script, the first script of European civilization.

Greeks know very well that olive oil is much more than an exceptional and healthy food. It is part of our culture and civilization accompanying our social and spiritual life with a plethora of traditions and rituals. The therapeutic effect of its consumption on our body and spirit, touches the cosmic mystery. A mystery that in its heart, hides the motivating force of the world. Love between all the beings of the earth and their love towards nature and its gifts.

From the culture of unity, to the harmonious and delicate fruity taste, as well as the heath protective antioxidant properties, the symbolisms of the packaging of our product, render all the good qualities and values that created it as a functional food, supporting the body like a friend and an ADELΦΟS.

Minoan Dolphins, companions of knowledge, light and healing, protect and guide humans to make the right choices while seeking virtue, here with the form of blessed, real food, a product of harmonious cooperation with nature and fellow human. A cooperation producing the extra virgin olive oil PDO Sitia Lasithiou Kritis, the Historic Good of our Land.

Image: free rendering of the Dolphins fresco on the label of ADELΦΟS EVOO.