Listed 100 (total found 1899) sub titles with search on: Festivals and fairs for wider area of: "GREECE Country EUROPE" .
ANTHOCHORI (Village) DRAMA
3/11
Anniversary of the inauguration of the local church
CRETE (Island) GREECE
In Crete, you will come across opportunities to enjoy yourself by
taking part in a Cretan "glenti", or merry-making, almost every day.
In the villages, above all, traditional Cretan weddings will give you a chance
to hear authentic folk music, follow Cretan dances, drink Cretan wine, and eat
tidbits of Cretan meat. The feast-days of churches and monasteries are occasions
for merry-making, spring, summer and autumn. A brief calendar of feast days and
educational and recreational events, though it is a list that grows longer every
year, will give you some idea of the possibilities:
February: The feast of Haghios Charalambos is celbrated
with dances, food and drink at Crousona.
March: Carnival time, with festivities all over the
island, particularly in the big towns.
Shrove Monday: the first day of Lent, celebrated
in the countryside with dances, music and Lenten food (particularly seafood and
a special unleavened bread, "lagana", eaten only on this day) and plenty
of wine.
March 25: A national holiday, in honour of the Day
of Independence and the Feast of the Annunciation. In Apocorona,
Chania, a festival is held on Lady Day.
Easter: Religious celebrations take place all over
Crete, throughout Holy Week. On Easter Sunday and Monday, everyone feasts on roast
lamb and drinks lots of wine. Characas,
Monofatsi, is particularly noted for its Easter celebrations. In the second
and third day after Easter, an orange festival is held in Skines,
Kidonia, Chania, with dances and songs.
April: The Feast-day of St. George, April 23, is
a sheep shearing festival. Milk, wine and food are served in the village Haghios
Georgios on the plateau of Lassithi. Milk and cheese feast in Assi
Gonia, Chania.
When Easter Sunday falls early, the orange festival of Skines
is held on the fifth and sixth of May.
May: On May Day, Cretans flock to the countryside
to gather wild flowers for May-Day wreaths and to feast.
May 21: A festival, with dancing and singing, is
held in Arcalochori, Heracleion.
Throughout the week of May 21, celebrations are organized in the honour of the
glorious Battle of Crete, particularly in Rethymno,
Heracleion and Chania.
The festivities include athletic games, dancing in public squares, exhibitions
of historical documents from the war, speeches, plays, concerts and religious
ceremonies.
June: The village of Piskokephalo,
near Crousta, Lassithi, holds
a festival.
July 9: A wine festival is organized in Rethymnon,
with much merry-making and plenty of free wine.
July 17: The feast-day of St. Marina, celebrated
in the village of Voni with dances and feasting. Towards the end of the month,
the village of Daphnes, Heracleion,
holds a wine festival.
July 26: The feast-day of St. Paraskevi is celbrated
in Scoteinos Cave, near Gouves.
August: This is the month of most festivals in Crete.
During the first two weeks, Sitia
holds a sultana-grape festival, accompanied by many festivities while Anogeia
organizes a festival, which includes exhibitions of popular crafts, folk dancing
and folk music competitions, a traditional Cretan wedding, concerts and athletic
events. Visitors are invited to join in. Religious celebrations are held in Arcalochori,
Archanes, Alagni and Haghios
Myron, Heracleion. In the village of Critsa,
Lassithi, foreigners can be guests at a traditional wedding, in which all
the folk customs are observed.
August 15: The Feast of the Assumption is a major
feast day all over Crete, in monasteries, convents and churches dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. The most important festivities are held in Neapolis,
Lassithi, in Mochos, Paliani,
Cardhiotissa and Hodhigitria.
During summer three months (July, August and September) of educational
and recreational events are organized by the city
of Heracleion. Concerts of classical and folk music, plays, ballets, operas
and exhibitions of paintings and photographs are among the attractions that draw
artists and intellectuals from all over Greece.
September: The vintage month of wine and raki. In
many villages, festivals are held to celebrate the coming of autumn. In Pombia,
Heracleion, a festival is organized in honour of the great Cretan hero, Michalis
Corakas.
October: A chestnut festival is held at Elos,
Kissamos, on October 21.
November: Celebrations in Rethymnon
and at the Monastery of Arcadi
in memory of the epic events that culminate in the holocaust of 1866.
December: The holy Days are observed according to
age-old traditions, especially in the villages. In Cretan towns, carols are sung
on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and the feasting starts at midnight. Churches
hold services in honour of birth of Christ and the beginning of the New Year.
January: The festivals of Epiphany and of St. John
the Baptist on the sixth and seventh of January round off the Christmas festivities.
Epiphany is celebrated with religious processions, the blessing of waters and
diving by the faithful.
Countless other festivals are organized throughout the year in the
villages by hundreds of educational and recreational groups. The festivals, especially
those that include feasting and dancing, are publicly announced, so that foreigners
can easily find out about them and join the fun.
(text: MANOLIS DOULGERAKIS & UTE SCHACHTELE)
This text (extract) is cited February 2004 from the Heraklio
Hoteliers Association tourist pamphlet.
LAPPEI (Municipality) RETHYMNO
The shepherds celebrate the "Koura" in the end of the spring.
In St. George feast day they take their sheep to the church to be blessed and
they milk them, giving the milk to all those who are present. After the harvest
time there is "kazanemata", which is a process to make the raki.
All religious festivities are full of vigor and life with the day
of Virgin Mary (8th September) in Miriokefala
to stand as one of the most important, which is followed by a big pilgrimage.
All these celebrations offer to the visitors perfect chances for feasts and fun.
This text (extract) is cited February 2004 from the Municipality
of Lappes tourist pamphlet.
MELISSONAS (Village) KARYSTIA
AGIA VARVARA (Village) MONOFATSIO
18/2/2001
ALEPOCHORI (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
ASPRONERI (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
ASVESTADES (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
18/2/2001
CHIONADES (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
DIDYMOTICHO (Town) EVROS
The Monday before Shrove Monday
DOXA (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
ELLINOCHORI (Small town) DIDYMOTICHO
25/2/2001
FERES (Small town) ALEXANDROUPOLI
GALAXIDI (Small town) PARNASSOS
On Shrove Monday in Galaxidi the residents and the visitors go to the market, where “moutzouroma” and ”alevroma” take place. That is, people throw at each other soot (moutzouroma) and flour (alevroma). The beach becomes a battle field. There are clouds of flour and dense clouds of soot. It is a very old custom. Perhaps it dates back to the Byzantine era, that the clowns of the hippodromes colored their faces. It started becoming very popular in 1840 as a farewell event.
GAVALOCHORI (Village) VAMOS
KARPENISSI (Town) EVRYTANIA
On Mardi Gras Sunday "Panaratos",a folk theatrical performance takes place: The Panaratos that was first performed in Karpenissi at the beginning of the last century and became a significant event for the area, featuring 40 or more male "actors". "Panaratos" is a variation on Georgios Chortatzi's "Erofili", which according to oral tradition was brought to Karpenissi by Papageorgiou from Ipiros, who was building the Metropolis of Karpenissi, Agia Triada, in 1918.
Panaratos (the princess' lover), son of the king of Thrace, is brought up in the palace of the king (the father) and falls in love with the princess, whom he marries secretly. When the king, who had meant for his daughter to marry someone else, finds out he beheads Panaratos. The princess commits suicide, while either servant or the Chorus kills the king. The "resurrection" of everyone by Charon follows. "Panaratos" cought on in the Ipirus area of Greece at the beginning of last century as a "rite of spring" since the death of nature in winter is followed by her resurrectino in spring.
This extract is cited August 2003 from the Municipality of Karpenission URL below, which contains images.
The Karpenissi Municipal Cultural and Development Organization organizes Mardi Gras events yearly, featuring a rich Artistic Programme for young and old, a dress-up party etc.
On Shrove Monday (the equivalent of Ash Wednesday) there is a traditional feast including dance troupes that revive local customs, a maypole, as well as a satirical Vlach Wedding, while the Women's Folk Art Association "Euritania" dishes out bean soup, lagana bread and wine to everyone in the Town's Central square.
KOUFOVOUNO (Small town) DIDYMOTICHO
25/2/2001
KROUSSONAS (Small town) MALEVIZIO
Organization of an excursion in the outdoors, revival of the old customs like construction and flying of kites, offers of traditional dishes and others.
KYANI (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
25/2/2001
LADI (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
MAVROKLISSI (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
MEGALI DOXIPARA (Village) ORESTIADA
26/2/2001
METAXADES (Small town) DIDYMOTICHO
MYSTRAS (Village) PELOPONNISOS
On Shrove Monday
NEA MOUDANIA (Small town) HALKIDIKI
18/3/2002
"Shrove Monday feast in our yard" by the Yachting Club of Moudania, with sea titbits washed by plenty of tsipouro (raki)
NEROKOUROS (Village) ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS
ORESTIDA (Municipality) KASTORIA
PALIOURI (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
PENTALOFOS (Village) ORESTIADA
PIMENIKO (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
25/2/2001
PROTOKLISSI (Small town) DIDYMOTICHO
26/2/2001
25/2/2001
SITOCHORI (Village) DIDYMOTICHO
19/2/2001
STRYMONAS (Municipality) SERRES
XANTHI (Town) MAKEDONIA EAST & THRACE
Tzaros is a local tradition in the last Sunday before the Shrove Monday. During the feast an effigy of the king of the Carnival (= Tzaros) is burned beside the river of the city.
AGIA PARASKEVI (Small town) LESVOS
26
ALONISSOS (Port) NORTH SPORADES
This year's carnival procession who took place on the last Sunday
of the carnival period (17 March 2002), was the most succesful one.
The majority of the local people took place in this year's carnival
procession, with a lot of different themes, like the teams from the Circus, the
Pyramid and the mummies, the Egyptians, Octopuses, Big brothers, Indians, Earth,
Greek revolution, etc.
All the people who are participating at the carnival parade, start
from the square at the front of town hall of Alonissos, and they go down to the
port of Patitiri.
The first stop is there and all the people dance traditional songs
and they sing carnival songs. The nice thing with the carnival songs is that the
lyrics change every year, with spicy and kinky content taken from the everyday
life of the people living in the island.
After the parade goes around the village of Patiriri with another
stop at the neighborhood of Agia Paraskeui. Then the parade continues to Votsi,
and back to the town hall where the participants dance around the fire, drinking
refreshments and wine offered by the municipality of Alonissos from special dressed
employees of the municipality.
Enjoy some of the photos taken from the this year's carnival.
This text is cited Mar 2003 from the Municipality of Alonissos URL below, which contains images.
AMARYNTHOS (Small town) CHALKIDA
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!