Asha, Cyprus

Asha (Greek: Άσσια [locally [ˈaʃːa]]; Turkish: Paşaköy) is a village in Northern Cyprus, located 6 km northwest of Vatili.

Asha is located in the center of the Mesaoria valley. Before 1974, the population of Asha was approximately 2,700. The village consisted of two parishes, St. John's and St. George's. The village had five churches: St. George, St. John Prodromos, St. Theodore, St. Spyridon and Virgin Mary. St. Spyridon was born in Asha and the church was built by Michael Kassialos, a folk artist from Asha. Asha was also well known for the craftsmanship of the embroidery made there. The main source of income in the area was farming and many agricultural products of Asha were sold to Nicosia's markets. Asha was also famous for its cucumbers.

Name

Some believe that the name of the village comes from "Askia" which in Greek means "without any shade" and refers to the fact that there were very few trees in the area in and around Asha and therefore a lack of shade. Over the centuries the pronunciation of the name changed from "Askia" to "Ashia". S. Menandros, in his book "Toponomy of Cyprus" (Athens, 1907), writes: "An old village called Ashia is mentioned many times in texts from the period of the French kingdom of Cyprus and is believed to have constituted the baliazzo d'Αscha according to Venetian census. In the "Assises" the name is spelled Aschia, Αchia, Asquie and According to Maheras Askia and Ahea. All evidence suggests that despite the differences in spelling, all the double consonants in the name, i.e. sh, sk, sq or ch, were most probably pronounced similarly to the heavy Italian sc."