Feasts & festivals

Argoutsiaria in Kleisoura

On New Year's Day in Kleisoura in Kastoria masked men, the argoutsiarides, go round the village with zourna and drum. In the morning they dance in the square of Agios Nikolaos until noon, in the afternoon in the cafés and the homes of those with a name day, and in the evening at the village association's glenti. Among the dances are Gaida, Berati, Moustabeiko from Naousa and a heavy tsamikos, danced by the gegkas.

• Macedonia

• Gaida
• Berati
• Moustabeiko
• Vathis Tsamikos

Sagia in Nea Karvali

The Sagia are a custom of the eve of Epiphany, 5 January, once kept all over Cappadocia. A big fire is lit for a good year, young men disguised with horns and bells, the Sagia, go round it, and people dance circle dances and jump over the fire.

• Cappadocia
• Macedonia

Ragoutsaria in Kastoria

From Epiphany to 8 January Kastoria celebrates the Ragoutsaria. As soon as the cross comes out of the lake, masked groups (bouloukia) in skins and masks take to the streets, and on St John's day they go round the houses. On 8 January comes the big satirical parade. Dozens of brass and drum bands play at once all over the town, and people dance non-stop in the streets.

• Macedonia

Arapides in Monastiraki, Drama

On Epiphany in Monastiraki near Drama the "tseta" goes out, a group of men with the Arapides, who wear big bells at the waist. In the morning they go round the houses, and in the afternoon a big communal dance is set up in the square, which must stay one circle from start to end. Inside it the Arapides, the Tsoliades and the other masked figures dance, to lyra and frame drum. The custom ends on St Athanasios' day, 18 January.

• Macedonia

Babo's day (Gynaikokratia)

On 8 January, in Monokklisia, Nea Petra and other villages near Serres, the women are in charge for a day and the men stay at home. The married women go with music to the babo, the oldest woman and former midwife of the village, and bring her gifts. Then they feast and dance in the square until the afternoon, traditionally to the gaida. Women from Thrace who settled in the area brought the custom with them.

• Macedonia

Last Sunday of Carnival

Cheesefare Sunday is the last day of Carnival: the next day, Clean Monday, Lent begins. It is the day of the most masquerades, teasing songs and big glentia, and in many villages the dancing stops only when the bell rings for the vespers of Forgiveness. In many places people dance Piperi then, a comic, mimetic Carnival dance with bold words.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Crete
• Cyclades
• Dodecanese
• Epirus
• Ionian Islands
• Macedonia
• North Aegean
• Peloponnese
• Thessaly
• Thrace

• Piperi

Fanoi of Kozani

Every Sunday of Carnival the fanoi are lit in the neighbourhoods of Kozani, big bonfires where people gather with wine and food. A singer gives the line, and the circle around the fire repeats it and dances. The first songs are about love and struggle, and as the night goes on they turn satirical and bawdy. At the Keramargio fanos "Piperi" is sung and danced.

• Macedonia

• Piperi

Geroi and Korelles on Skyros

On the last Sunday of Carnival, in the town of Skyros, the Geroi go out in black capes, goatskin masks and dozens of bells at the waist. They sway their hips, leap and shake the bells in rhythm, and the Korela, in festive Skyrian dress, dances in front of them or in the middle of their circle with a white handkerchief. The groups climb up to the castle, and the custom goes on into Clean Monday.

• Central Greece & Attica

Mostra in Thymiana, Chios

In Thymiana on Chios the Mostra is "raised" on the Friday before Cheesefare Sunday and "lowered" on the Sunday. The custom recalls an old victory of the village over pirates. In the procession pairs of dancers, the Thymiana man in breeches and the pirate, clash their swords in rhythm and dance the talimi, a war dance, to pipes and drums.

• North Aegean

Clean Monday

Clean Monday closes Carnival and opens Lent. People go out into the countryside with Lenten food, lagana bread and kites, and in many places it is the day of the last Carnival customs, with maskers, mock weddings, ploughing and sowing for the fertility of the land, and dancing in the square.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Crete
• Cyclades
• Dodecanese
• Macedonia
• North Aegean
• Peloponnese
• Thessaly
• Thrace

Vlach wedding in Thebes

The Vlach wedding of Thebes starts on Tsiknopempti and peaks on Clean Monday, with a mock wedding, matchmaking and dowry, and a procession through the town. The groups, each with its captain and banner, dance to zygia, drum and pipiza: the kagkeli, syrtos sta tria, tsamikos, the gaitanaki and finally Choros tou pethamenou, when the groom "dies" and comes back to life.

• Central Greece & Attica

• Syrtos sta tria
• Gaitanaki
• Choros tou pethamenou

Sochos carnival

In Sochos near Thessaloniki the carnival starts with the Triodion and peaks on the last Sunday of Carnival and on Clean Monday. On the afternoon of Clean Monday hundreds of masked figures with heavy bells at the waist come down to the square of Agios Georgios. They dance, leap and shake the bells, and then the glenti spreads to the cafés and the houses of the village.

• Macedonia

Kalogeros

Kalogeros is a Carnival rite for the fertility of the land, which the folklorist Georgios Aikaterinidis calls Thracian. It takes place in Agia Eleni near Serres and in Kalampaki near Drama at the end of Carnival. The Kalogeros, in skins and with bells at the waist, goes round the houses with the "king", who sows and calls out the prices of the year. In Agia Eleni the rite has its own dance.

• Macedonia

• Choros tou kalogerou

Beis in Protokklisi

On Clean Monday, in Protokklisi near Soufli, a refugee village, men of all ages dress up and go round the village dancing, to gaida and drum. The Beis is a satirical Carnival custom and is listed in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

• Thrace

Bourani in Tyrnavos

On Clean Monday the men of Tyrnavos climb to the chapel of Prophet Elias and cook the bourani, a soup of spinach and vinegar, without oil. Once the soup is shared out, the dancing, singing and bawdy jokes begin. It is the last feast of the Tyrnavos carnival, known for its phallic symbols.

• Thessaly

St George’s Day

St George is honoured on 23 April; when the day falls before Easter, the feast moves to Easter Monday. He is the patron saint of many villages, and his feast, in the middle of spring, often comes with sung dances, contests and songs about the saint who slays the dragon.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Peloponnese

Lazarines

On Lazarus Saturday, in twelve villages of the municipality of Kozani, such as Aiani, Kaisareia and Kato Komi, the Lazarines, girls and women in local dress, go round the houses singing spring songs. In Aiani, when the visits are over, they gather in the square for the great dance, Tsintsiro. The custom carries on into Palm Sunday.

• Macedonia

• Tsintsiro

Maides in Makrinitsa

For May Day, in Makrinitsa on Mount Pelion, a group of about twenty local men comes dancing down the cobbled street to the square, to two zournades and a drum. There a folk play is acted out with the Genitsaros, the Hodja, the Gypsy who dies and comes back to life when the May lays a flower on him, and the bear. They dance syrtos, zeibekiko and the dances of the play's figures, and at the end everyone dances.

• Thessaly

• Zeibekiko

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday, Lambri, follows the midnight Resurrection service and is the biggest feast of the year. At midday the lamb is roasted, and in the afternoon, after the Agape vespers, many villages set up a dance in the churchyard or the square; often the priest leads it first and the parishioners follow in order of age. Many Easter dances are slow and sung, sometimes with no instruments, and Kalamatianos is heard almost everywhere.

• Cappadocia
• Central Greece & Attica
• Crete
• Cyclades
• Cyprus
• Dodecanese
• Eastern Thrace
• Epirus
• Ionian Islands
• Macedonia
• North Aegean
• Peloponnese
• Thessaly
• Thrace

• Kalamatianos
• Tsamikos

Easter Monday

Easter Monday, the second day of Easter, is a day of celebration. In many villages people gather in the square or the churchyard and set up old sung dances, often without instruments. When St George's day falls before Easter, it is kept on this day.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Thessaly

Easter Tuesday

Easter Tuesday, the third day of Easter, is still a feast day in many places. The Easter celebrations go on with each place's own customs, often with old sung dances in the square or the churchyard.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Dodecanese
• Macedonia
• Thessaly

Sts Constantine and Helen

On 21 May Sts Constantine and Helen are honoured. For the anastenarides it is the great feast of the year: three days of dancing before the icons, to lyra and drum, and firewalking, in which they walk barefoot on the burning embers holding the icons.

• Eastern Thrace
• Macedonia

• Anastenaria
• Agitikos

Kataklysmos

Kataklysmos is the Pentecost feast of the coastal towns of Cyprus, and the biggest is held in Larnaca, on the Foinikoudes seafront. People throw water at each other, which gives the feast its name. The fair holds contests of tsiattista (improvised verse), song and traditional dance, According to Averof and Iakovidis, Choros tou drepaniou was danced at panigyria and at Kataklysmos, with dance contests in the coastal towns.

• Cyprus

• Choros tou drepaniou

Holy Spirit Monday

On the Saturday before Pentecost the summer panigyri of Ai-Symios begins in Mesolongi, and it lasts until the Tuesday of the Holy Trinity. The groups, with armed men, riders and a zygia of zournades and drum, climb to the monastery of Agios Symeon and feast all night. They dance tsamikos and syrtos, Helaki and Choros tou pethamenou, and on Holy Spirit Monday they come down into the town.

• Central Greece & Attica

• Choros tou pethamenou
• Helaki
• Ai-Symios
• Tsamikos

Klidonas

Klidonas is kept on the feast of St John the Baptist, "Ai-Giannis tou Klidona", on 24 June. On the eve unmarried girls bring "unspoken water" from the fountain and drop a token (rizikari) into it, and the boys burn the dry May Day wreaths and jump over the fire to drive away evil. On the day itself the jar is opened and each girl is told her fortune.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Crete
• Thessaly

Sts Peter and Paul

On 29 June the Apostles Peter and Paul are honoured, and on the next day, 30 June, the Holy Apostles. These are among the first panigyria of the summer, in villages with a church of Agios Petros or of the Holy Apostles, with a liturgy followed by a meal and dancing.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Dodecanese
• Epirus

Prophet Elias

Prophet Elias is honoured on 20 July. His feast is one of the summer village panigyria, with a liturgy at his church followed by dancing, and it has songs of its own.

• Epirus
• Macedonia

Agia Paraskevi

Agia Paraskevi is honoured on 26 July and is the patron saint of many mountain villages. Her feast is one of the big summer panigyria, and in some places it joins the feast of Agios Panteleimon on the next day to make a two-day festival.

• Central Greece & Attica
• Epirus

Agios Panteleimon

Agios Panteleimon is honoured on 27 July, the day after Agia Paraskevi, and in some places the two feasts make one two-day panigyri. It is one of the summer panigyria of mountain villages and of island chapels.

• Dodecanese
• Epirus
• Macedonia

Transfiguration

The Transfiguration was one of the summer panigyria of Syrrako. After the liturgy the dance is set up in the chorostasi, under the plane trees of the square: women in the inner circles, men in the outer ones, and each dancer leads the song they choose, syrtos, syrtos sta tria, tsamikos or a five-beat dance. The leader orders the songs and pays the musicians.

• Epirus

• Syrtos sta tria
• Tsamikos

Dormition of the Virgin

On 15 August the Church keeps the Dormition of the Virgin, the biggest summer panigyri all over Greece. In many places the icon or the Virgin's epitaphios is carried in procession, and after the liturgy the village lays tables and sets up a dance in the square or the churchyard, often for two or three days. Many who live elsewhere come back to their village for the feast, and kalamatianos is heard at almost every panigyri.

• Crete
• Cyclades
• Dodecanese
• Epirus
• Ionian Islands
• Macedonia
• North Aegean
• Northern Epirus
• Peloponnese
• Pontus

• Kalamatianos

The Dormition in Olympos

In Olympos on Karpathos, on the day of the Dormition, after the liturgy the square fills with locals, visitors and Olymbites from abroad, and the women wear the village costumes. In the afternoon a table is laid and the revellers sing verses about the year's events. At nightfall the Kato choros is set up, slow and solemn, with men and women holding crossed, and one round can last a quarter of an hour.

• Dodecanese

• Kato choros

Panagia Soumela on Vermio

On 15 August, the Dormition of the Virgin, Panagia Soumela is the great pilgrimage of the Pontic Greeks. The old monastery in Pontus and the new one on Mount Vermio keep the feast on the same day, with vigil, a procession of the icon and, on Vermio, Pontic music and dancing.

• Macedonia
• Pontus

Nativity of the Virgin

The Nativity of the Virgin, on 8 September, is one of the last big feasts of the summer, and in many places it closes the season of panigyria. Villages whose church is dedicated to the Virgin's birth hold vespers and a procession of the icon on the eve, and the dancing that follows often lasts two days or more.

• Dodecanese
• Epirus
• Ionian Islands
• Macedonia

Agios Dimitrios

Agios Dimitrios falls in the sowing season. In Western Thrace, as Pantelis Kavakopoulos writes, on the eve of the feast one man danced Choros tis sporas alone, inside or outside the village kafeneio, on or beside a wooden grain measure. Its tune is in 7/8.

• Thrace

• Choros tis sporas

Presentation of Mary: the Koupa in Nikia

Choros tis koupas is a custom of the religious panigyria of Nisyros, and in Nikia it is danced on 21 November, the feast of the Presentation of Mary, and on 26 September. A man honours a woman by bringing her to the head of the circle and drops money into the cup for the church. After the dance the committee counts the money and announces how much was raised.

• Dodecanese

• Choros tis koupas

Christmas fires of Florina

On the night of 23 to 24 December, in Florina and its villages, dozens of big bonfires are lit in the neighbourhoods, the biggest in Iroon Square, beside the Sakouleva river. Around each fire people eat, drink wine and dance to brass bands until morning. In older times the children sang carols well in advance and asked for wood for the fire.

• Macedonia