Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
funeral bier, lavishly decorated by the women of the
parish, leaves the sanctuary and is paraded solemnly
through the streets. Late
Saturday
evening sees the
climax in a majestic Mass to celebrate Christ's trium-
phant return. At the stroke of midnight all the lights
in each crowded church are extinguished and the
congregation plunged into the darkness until the
priest lights the candles of the worshippers, intoning
“
Dévte, lévete Fós
” (“Come, take the Light”). The
burning candles are carried home through the
streets; they are said to bring good fortune to the
house if they arrive still burning.
The lighting of the flames is the signal for celebra-
tions to start and the Lent fast to be broken. The
traditional greeting, as fireworks and dynamite
explode all around you in the street, is
Khristós
Anésti
(“Christ is risen”), to which the response is
Alithós Anésti
(“Truly He is risen”). On
Easter Sunday
there's feasting on roast lamb.
The Greek equivalent of
Easter eggs
is hard-
boiled eggs (painted red on Holy Thursday), which
are baked into twisted, sweet bread-loaves
(
tsourékia
) or distributed on Easter Sunday. People
rap their eggs against their friends' eggs, and the
owner of the last uncracked egg is considered lucky.
lakes, rivers and seas are blessed, especially harbours (such as Pireás),
where the priest traditionally casts a crucifix into the water, with local
youths competing for the privilege of recovering it.
FEBRUARY/MARCH
Carnival
(Apokriátika)
Festivities span three weeks, climaxing during
the seventh weekend before Easter. Pátra Carnival, with a chariot parade
and costume parties, is one of the largest and most outrageous in the
Mediterranean. Interesting, too, are the boúles or masked revels which
take place around Macedonia (particularly at Náoussa), Thrace (Xánthi),
and the outrageous Goat Dance on Skýros in the Sporades. The Ionian
islands, especially Kefaloniá, are also good for carnival, as is Ayiássos on
Lésvos, while Athenians celebrate by going around hitting each other on
the head with plastic hammers.
Clean Monday
(Kathará Dheftéra) The day after Carnival ends and
the first day of Lent, 48 days before Easter, marks the start of fasting and
is traditionally spent picnicking and flying kites.
March 25: Independence Day
and the feast of the
Annunciation
(Evangelismós) Both a religious and a national holiday,
with, on the one hand, military parades and dancing to celebrate the
beginning of the revolt against Ottoman 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 Tínos, Ýdhra and any
locality with a monastery or church named Evangelístria or Evangelismós.
APRIL/MAY
Easter
(Páskha: April 15, 2012; May 5, 2013; April 20, 2014; April
12, 2015) The most important festival of the Greek year (see opposite).
The island of Ýdhra, with its alleged 360 churches and monasteries, is the
prime Easter resort; other famous Easter celebrations are held at Corfu,
Pyrgí on Híos, Ólymbos on Kárpathos and St John's monastery on Pátmos,
where on Holy Thursday the abbot washes the feet of twelve monks in
the village square, in imitation of Christ doing the same for his disciples.
Good Friday and Easter Monday are also public holidays.
April 23: The feast of St George
(Áyios Yeóryios) St George, the
patron of shepherds, is honoured with a big rural celebration, with much
feasting and dancing at associated shrines and towns. If it falls during
Lent, festivities are postponed until the Monday after Easter.
Name days
In Greece, everyone gets to celebrate their birthday
twice. More important, in fact, than your actual
birthday, is the “
Name Day
” of the saint who bears
the same name. If your name isn't covered, no
problem - your party is on All Saints' Day, eight
weeks after Easter. If you learn that it's an acquaint-
ance's name day, you wish them
Khrónia
Pollá
(literally, “many years”).
The big name day celebrations (Iannis/Ianna on
January 7 or Yioryios on April 23 for example) can
involve thousands of people. Any church or chapel
bearing the saint's name will mark the event -
some smaller chapels will open just for this one day
of the year - while if an entire village is named after
the saint, you can almost guarantee a festival. To
check out when your name day falls, see
W
sfakia
-crete.com.
MAY/JUNE
May 1: May Day
(Protomayiá) The great urban holiday when
townspeople traditionally make for the countryside to picnic and fly
kites, returning with bunches of wild flowers. Wreaths are hung on
their doorways or balconies until they are burnt in bonfires on St
John's Eve (June 23). There are also large demonstrations by the Left
for Labour Day.
May 21:
Feast of St Constantine and St Helen
(Áyios
Konstandínos & Ayía Eléni) Constantine, as emperor, championed
Christianity in the Byzantine Empire; St Helen was his mother. 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.
Whit Monday
(Áyio Pnévma) Fifty days after Easter, sees
services to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit to the
Festival calendar
JANUARY
January 1: New Year's Day
(Protokhroniá) In Greece this is the
feast day of Áyios Vassílios (St Basil). The traditional New Year greeting is
“Kalí Khroniá”.
January 6: Epiphany
(Theofánia/Tón Fóton) Marks the baptism of
Jesus as well as the end of the twelve days of Christmas. Baptismal fonts,
