The Festival Calendar
Most of the other Greek festivals are celebrations of one or other of a multitude of saints ; the most important are detailed below. A village or church bearing the saint's name is a fair guarantee of some sort of observance - sometimes right across the town or island, otherwise quiet, local and consisting of little more than a special liturgy and banners adorning the chapel in question. Saints' days are also celebrated as name days ; if you learn that it's an acquaintance's name day, you wish them " Khronia Polla " ("Many years", as in "Many happy returns"). Also listed are a few more secular holidays, most enjoyable of which are the pre-Lenten carnivals. In addition to the specific dates mentioned, there are literally scores of local festivals , or paniyiria , celebrating the patron saint of the main village church. With hundreds of possible name-saints' days (calendars list two or three, often obscure, for each day) you're unlikely to travel around Greece for long without stumbling on something. It is important to remember the concept of the paramoni , or eve of the festival . Most of the events listed below are celebrated on the night before, so if you show up on the morning of the date given you will very probably have missed any music, dancing or drinking. January 1 New Year's Day ( Protokhronia ) in Greece is the feast day of Ayios Vassilios (Saint Basil), and is celebrated with church services and the baking of a special loaf, the vassilopitta , in which a coin is baked which brings its finder good luck throughout the year. The traditional New Year greeting is " Kali Khronia ". January 6 Epiphany ( Ayia Theofania , or Fota for short), when the kalikantzari (hobgoblins) who run riot on earth during the twelve days of Christmas are rebanished to the netherworld by various rites of the Church. The most important of these is the blessing of baptismal fonts and all outdoor bodies of water. At lakeside, seaside or riverside locations, the priest traditionally casts a crucifix into the deep, with local youths competing for the privilege of recovering it. January 8 The Yinekokratia of certain villages in Thrace is a festival where Saint Domenica (Dhomnika in Greek), patroness of midwives, is celebrated by men and women reversing roles for the day: the women hold forth in the kafenia while the men do the domestic chores. Pre-Lenten carnivals These - known in Greek as Apokriatika - span three weeks, climaxing during the seventh weekend before Easter. Kathari Dheftera (Lenten Monday) of the first carnival week is always seven weeks before Easter Sunday. Patra Carnival , with a chariot parade and costume parties, is one of the largest and most outrageous in the Mediterranean; on the last Sunday before Lent there's a grand parade, with the city's large gay population in conspicuous participation. Interesting, too, are the boules or masked revels which take place around Macedonia (particularly at Naoussa), Thrace (Xanthi) and the outrageous Goat Dance on Skyros in the Sporades. The Ionian islands, especially Kefallonia, are also good for carnival, while Athenians "celebrate" by going around hitting each other on the head with plastic hammers. In Thiva, a mock shepherd wedding occurs, while most places celebrate with colourful pageants reflecting local traditions. March 25 Independence Day and the feast of the Annunciation ( Evangelismos in Greek) is both a religious and a national holiday, with, on the one hand, military parades and dancing to celebrate the beginning of the revolt against Turkish rule in 1821, and on the other church services to honour the news given to Mary that she was to become the Mother of Christ. There are major festivities on Tinos, Idhra (Hydra) and any locality with a monastery or church named Evangelistria or Evangelismos. April 23 The feast of Ayios Yeoryios (Saint George), the patron of shepherds, is a big rural celebration, with much feasting and dancing at associated shrines and towns. Good venues include Arahova, near Delphi, and the island of Skyros, of which George is patron saint. If April 23 falls before Easter, ie during Lent, the festivities are postponed until the Monday after Easter. May 1 May Day ( Protomayia ) is the great urban holiday when townspeople traditionally make for the countryside to picnic, returning with bunches of wild flowers. Wreaths are hung on their doorways or balconies until they are burnt in bonfires on Saint John's eve (June 23). There are also large demonstrations by the Left, claiming the Ergatiki Protomayia (Working-Class First of May) as their own. May 21 The feast of Ayios Konstandinos (Saint Constantine) and his mother, Ayia Eleni (Saint Helen), the first pro-Orthodox Byzantine rulers. There are firewalking ceremonies in certain Macedonian villages; elsewhere celebrated rather more conventionally as the name day for two of the more popular Christian names in Greece. May/June The Monday of Ayio Pnevma (the Holy Spirit, Whit Monday in UK) marks the descent of same to the assembled disciples, fifty days after Easter. Usually a modest liturgy is celebrated at rural chapels of the Holy Spirit, gaily decked out with pennants. June 29-30 The joint feast of Ayios Petros and Ayios Pavlos (Saints Peter and Paul), two of the more widely celebrated name days, is on the 29th. Celebrations often run together with that for the Gathering of (all) the Holy Apostles (Ayii Apostoli), on the 30th. July 17 The feast of Ayia Marina : a big event in rural areas, as she's an important protector of crops. The eponymous port town on Leros will be en fete, as will Ayia Marina village on Kassos, and countless small mainland villages. Between mid July and mid-September there are religious festivals every few days, especially in the rural areas, and what with these, the summer heat and a mass exodus from the big cities, ordinary business slows or even halts. July 20 The feast of Profitis Ilias (the Prophet Elijah) is widely celebrated at the countless hill- or mountaintop shrines of Profitis Ilias. The most famous is on Mount Taiyettos, near Sparti, with an overnight vigil. July 26 Ayia Paraskevi is celebrated in parishes or villages bearing that name, especially in Epirus. August 6 Metamorfosis tou Sotiros (Transfiguration of the Saviour) provides another excuse for celebrations, particularly at Khristos Rahon village on Ikaria, and at Platanos on Leros. On Halki the date is marked by messy food fights with flour, eggs and squid ink (!), so beware. August 15 Apokimisis tis Panayias (Assumption or Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary). This is the day when people traditionally return to their home village, and in most places there will be no accommodation available on any terms. Even some Greeks will resort to sleeping in the streets. There is a great pilgrimage to Tinos, and major festivities at Paros, at Ayiassos on Lesvos, on Lipsi and at Olymbos on Karpathos. August 29 Apokefalisis tou Prodhromou (Beheading of John the Baptist). Popular pilgrimages and celebrations at Vrykounda on Karpathos. September 8 Yennisis tis Panayias (Birth of the Virgin Mary) sees special services in churches dedicated to the event, and a double cause for rejoicing on Spetses where they also celebrate the anniversary of the battle of the straits of Spetses, which took place on September 8, 1822. A re-enactment of the battle takes place in the harbour, followed by fireworks and feasting well into the night. Elsewhere, a lively festival at Vourliotes, Samos, and a pilgrimage of childless women to the monastery at Tsambika, Rhodes. September 14 A last major summer festival, the Ipsosis tou Stavrou (Exaltation of the Cross), keenly observed on Halki. September 24 The feast of Ayios Ioannis Theologos (Saint John the Divine), observed on Nissyros and Patmos. October 26 The feast of Ayios Dhimitrios (Saint Demetrius), another popular name day, particularly celebrated in Thessaloniki, of which he is the patron saint. In rural areas the new wine is traditionally broached on this day, a good excuse for general inebriation. October 28 Ohi Day , the year's major patriotic shindig - a national holiday with parades, folk-dancing and speeches to commemorate Metaxas's apocryphal one-word reply to Mussolini's 1940 ultimatum: " Ohi !" (No!). November 8 Another popular name day, the feast of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel (Mihail and Gavriil, or ton Taxiarhon ), marked by rites at the numerous churches named after them, particularly at the rural monastery of Taxiarhis on Symi, and the big monastery of Mandamadhos, Lesvos. December 6 The feast of Ayios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas), the patron of seafarers, who has many chapels dedicated to him. December 25 A much less festive occasion than Greek Easter, Christmas ( Khristouyenna ) is still an important religious feast celebrating the birth of Christ, and in recent years it has started to take on more of the trappings of the western Christmas, with decorations, Christmas trees and gifts. December 26 is not Boxing Day as in England but the Synaxis tis Panayias , or Gathering of the Virgin's Entourage. December 31 New Year's Eve ( Paramoni Protokhronia ), when, as on the other twelve days of Christmas, a few children still go door-to-door singing the traditional kalanda (carols), receiving money in return. Adults tend to sit around playing cards, often for money. The vassilopitta is cut at midnight (see January 1).
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