Oxya (Seltsi)

The village of Oxya (or Seltsi) was created as outcome of the residents’ moving from the nearby villages of Theotokos and Pistiliapi. According to the legend, the name Seltsi originated from a Turkish bey of the area, Amen Seltsi. Most men of the village have chosen the field of stone craft, travelling to faraway places in search of employment. Many of them have worked in USA, Ethiopia and Sudan, where in 1906 they founded the Educational Society of Seltsi of Epirus named “Saint Nikolaos” in order to honor the patron saint of their village, where the church of the saint was built in 1857 by local craftsmen. At Khartoum in Sudan these emigrants have worked in the construction of technical works and fortifications on behalf of the British government. Some of them have settled there permanently, however many of them in 1913 came back to Greece voluntarily to take part in the battles of Mbizani for the liberation of Epirus.