Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Festivals and fairs for wider area of: "PORTARIA Village VOLOS" .
PORTARIA (Village) VOLOS
The Pelioritic Wedding consists of a series of traditional customs
which indirectly suggest and express the union, the total participation and identification
of the guests from all the village with the new couple. Simple, joking, tolerant
and poetic words and expressive gestures.
Popular road theatre and dancing. Moments from the past, transport
by animals, offering sweets and tsipouro, which not only teach us a lot about
our ancestors but offer a live experience.
In this way tradition is not a museum object nor a dream. It is the
expression of living beings and small dramas which exist in our collective unconscious.
The conversation with the bride and bridegroom whose names have been forgotten,
is continuous, whispered and direct.
The revival of the traditions of the Pelioritic wedding are the most
important event and also the closing ceremony of the cultural festival.
This effort started in the sixties from a group of local residents,
aiming to preserve and diffuse the wedding customs in Pelion, as they were in
the past. From then on and for 27 years, with few exceptions, the revival of the
wedding customs is held during the second half of August, with the participation
of many local residents from the village and from all over the area.
One year in fact a real wedding was actually celebrated, because a
local couple chose to be united by marriage in the traditional way. Also other
couples who on various occasions played the role of bride and bridegroom in the
revival of the Pelioritic wedding successively were married. So, further to preserving
and diffusing the tradition, the revival of this custom brought luck to some couples.
The engagement ceremony, which always precedes the wedding in Pelion,
takes place in the «Melina Merkouri» square in front of the two Pelioritic rooms
belonging to the bride and bridegroom which have been constructed on purpose with
all the old house implements, which are gathered from the old mansions of Portaria.
The Pelioritic wedding began eight days before the Sunday on which
the ceremony was celebrated. It started with the custom of cutting the wedding
dress which took place in the bride's home. The wedding dress was not white as
is the fashion nowadays, but consisted of the traditional costume of Pelion.
The wedding was organized by the "Bratimia" (the special friends of
the bride and brodegroom). On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday friends and relatives
were involved in gathering and arranging the dowery.
Afterwards came the "flouring" according to this custom the bridegroom
with the "Bratimia" visited the bride's home and threw flour on the dough from
which the wedding cake would be made. Of course first they were given silver coins.
With the same flour they would sprinkle the bride and bridegroom so that they
would grow old with white hair.
On Friday the "Keratzides" (cart-drivers) with musical organs and
their horses gaily decorated, carried the dowry through the picturesque cobbled
streets and finally reaching the central square where the wedding dress is cut.
On Sunday the bridegroom is shaved, with the accompaniment of gunfire, the first
"bratimo" is offered sweets by the bride and the announcement is made that the
wedding will commence. The bride starts out, followed by a procession, the bride
and bridegroom return, the wedding feast, the bridegroom is hung by the "Bratimia",
the bride makes votive promises, the pitcher is filled from the fountain in the
central square, the pitcher is then broken, and finally the bridegroom buys all
the necessary items for the new household.
The closing ceremony is accompanied by satirical verses. After one
week the newly married couple are invited to the bridegroom's house for dinner.
This revival is an effort made by the Cultural Association of the
Municipality so as to preserve the customs and the traditional heritage of our
region. It offers the occasion to the older generation to remember and the younger
people to learn how weddings were celebrated in Pelion in the old days. It is
a wedding completely different from any other, and the only one for which you
can wish to see it again next year!
During both evenings visitors can watch traditional folklore dancing
from Pelion and other parts of Greece, by the dance group «ORMINIO».
In the central square an exhibition of local products is held, in
a specially planned space, also local wine and tsipouro are offered to everybody,
accompanied by snacks, becuase at a wedding all the guests must be made welcome.
The event is followed by a popular feast.
This text is cited September 2004 from the Municipality of Portaria URL below, which contains images
24/9
The festival of Panaghia Megalou Genous is celebrated in the small chapel dedicated
to the Holy Virgin in the Municipal Compartment of Katihori, on August 24th. Blessed
bread is offered in the church courtyard and the visitors can taste sweets and
refreshments.
29/6
Blessed bread is offered in the church courtyard and the event is followed by a popular folklore feast.
Stagiates has always been well known for two things: the cool, limpid
water and the delicious sausages produced there.
According to the residents' knowledge of previous history, around
the year 1750, sausage production and commerce were the main activities of the
local population. The sausage producers of Stagiates were unique in Greece for
their expert knowledge in the artistry of sausage production, using only first
quality ingredients and selling their products all over Greece. The writer and
historian Ioannis Kordatos mentions that in the years 1750-1850 Stagiates manufactured
and sold home-made sausages to a great extent. Over the years, and with the development
of technology, this craft has declined and finally became extinct.
This traditional craft is what we wish to revive so as the older generation
can remember and the younger learn about it.
This text is cited September 2004 from the Municipality of Portaria URL below, which contains image
ALI MERIA (Village) VOLOS
Every year the "Flower Festival" is organized in the Municipal Compartment of
Alli Meria. This includes a flower exhibition by local flower producers where
visitors can admire the variety of multi-colored flowers. Also visitors can buy
flowers at very good prices. The Flower Festival is open from morning until evening.
At the end of the festival a folklore celebration is held in the central square.
KATOCHORI (Village) VOLOS
The Athletic & Cultural Association of the Municipality in collaboration
with the Athletic and Cultural Association of Katihori «Chiron Centaur» organize
a yearly revival of the regional acitivities in an effort to preserve tradition.
The choice of Katihori as the ideal location to revive the traditional
way of producing tsipouro by distillation, was not casual. The area has been renowned
for years for the excellent quality wine and tsipouro produced locally.
For centuries the residents of the Municipal Compartment of Katihori
have developed the cultivation of vineyards and naturally the production of tsipouro.
Over the years the have evolved into the best tsipouro producers of the area.
The production of tsipouro needs special knowledge and mainly artistry. With technological
development, gradually this art of traditional produce of tsipouro declined and
was in danger of extinction.
This artistry is now revived every year. For this reason the Municipality
constructs the necessary implements for the traditional production of tsipouro
in the central square of the village, following the advice of the local residents.
The visitor can observe this procedure of traditional production,
and taste the fresh tsipouro which is produced at that moment. Afterwards a folklore
feast is held.
This text is cited September 2004 from the Municipality of Portaria URL below, which contains image
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