Page 44 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Greek Islands

A YEAR IN

THE GREEK ISLANDS

DISCOVER A Year in the Greek Islands JANUARY FEBRUARY

△ Apókries/Carnival Season (three weeks
across the islands, from costumed processions
Protochroniá /Ágios Vasílios (1 Jan). “Aï Vasíli”
on Réthymno to the goat dance on Skýros.
brings holiday gifts to children.
Tsikhnopémpti /“Roast-Smell” (Thu,
△ Theofánia/Epiphany (6 Jan). Church fonts
66 days before Easter). Grillhouses are booked
are reconsecrated, kalikántzari (rampaging before Lent). A time of colour and pageantry
Christmas demons) are banished and boys solid; believers eat their final meat before Lent.
compete to retrieve crucifixes from the Kathará Deftera/Clean Monday (55 days
Aegean for good luck. before Easter). The start of Lent is celebrated
with picnics and kite-flying.

MAY
△ Protomagiá (1 May). The beginning of spring JUNE
is celebrated with flower shows in many cities,
including Iráklio on Crete. Agíou Pnévmatos/Pentecost Monday (early Jun).
Análipsi/Ascension Day (39 days after Easter). A three-day weekend for the start of summer.
The 40th day after the death of Jesus, when he △ Agioi Apostoli Petro kai Pavlos (late Jun).
ascended to heaven, is commemorated with Apostles Peter and Paul are celebrated at churches
the first sea swim of the season. dedicated to them across the islands.
Ippokrateia Festival (late Jun). A long-standing
summer festival on Kos, running until October.

SEPTEMBER
Rhodes Festival (2nd week). The Palace of the
Grand Masters rings with the sound of classic OCTOBER
music, as concerts are played on-site.
△ Agíou Ioánni Theológou/St John the Divine △ Óhi/No Day (28 Oct). Military parades
(24 and 25 Sep). The saint’s day is celebrated at commemorate General Metaxas’s response
monasteries outside Nikiá on Nísyros and at to the 1940 Italian ultimatum for surrender
Hóra on Pátmos. in World War II – he said “ohi”, or “no”.
44

044-045_EW_Greek_Islands.indd 44 28/11/2018 12:05