Summer festivals

One of the characteristics of summer in Greece is the many and different festivals that take place in almost all its villages and towns, near the sea or in its mountains. The Greek summer, with its many festivals in July and August, offers a pilgrimage to the churches and chapels that are celebrating. Thus, among the many feasts we have: Saints Anargyri, Saint Marina, Prophet Elias, Saint Paraskevi, Saint Panteleimon, the Transfiguration of the Savior and the climax of the summer with the Dormition of the Virgin, on the fifteenth of August.

People in each place according to their customs and local products, on the day of the feast, prepare food for the locals and visitors in large pots (cauldrons), which they offer after the end of the festive service in the church, after the priest has blessed first. Also, in the village square or in some tavern, there is usually a music band, with traditional instruments and songs, so that people can go to have fun and dance in a feast that can last until the early hours of the morning. The mood of the people participating in the festival is happy, carefree and relaxed, compared to the other demanding and working days of the year. For this reason the expression ‘we are for the festivals’, which is said in a cheerful and playful mood among relatives and friends, wants to emphasize this carelessness that characterizes us when we are at the festival and therefore others should not take us seriously and trust us.

In recent years, in many villages of Greece there are celebrations, according to the products that a place produces, whether it is located in the mountains, the plains or the sea. So we have the feast of wine, grape, honey, potato, fig, cherry, peach, eggplant, sardine, pistachio, corn and many others.

Wherever we are in the summer in Greece, it is worth participating in a festival, trying the traditional products of the place we are, dancing, having fun and being happy, together with the people we love.

Anthoula P. Veziri