Sotirios Gkaintatzis danced across burning coals, his stomping bare feet raising sparks and puffs of smoke as he held aloft an icon of Saints Constantine and Helen. He is the leader of a group of “anastenaria” – the devotees of St. Constantine who celebrate these centuries-old rites in a smattering of small villages near Thessaloniki.
The Culture Ministry has submitted a request to UNESCO to inscribe a traditional Greek custom blessing the bounty of the land on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, it announced on Thursday.
Colorful kites danced in the skies above the hilltops and seafront promenades of Athens on Clean Monday as Greeks turned out to celebrate the Eastern Christian holiday in their traditional fashion after being hit hard by the pandemic during the winter.
The government is expected to announce Friday that parks in cities will remain open on Monday when Greeks mark the first day of Lent – dubbed Clean Monday – and citizens head to open spaces to fly kites.
The Domna Samiou Choir, an ensemble created in 1993 by the late doyenne of Greek folk music, performs traditional Christmas carols from different parts of the country and different eras.
He usually has a bundle of keys clutched in one hand and a sprig of jasmine or basil tucked behind an ear. Although 70 years old he is quick on his feet and I had trouble keeping up as he strode up the steep cobbled streets of Sikinos.
“Tradition is a living thing, not a museum genre.” How many times has Ekaterini Polymerou-Kamilaki repeated this phrase over her 40-year career? Hundreds, probably.
In the wake of a cameraman’s death during a traditional event and the accidental shooting of an 8-year-old girl on Easter Sunday, calls have grown for the imposition of restrictions on potentially dangerous customs.
The Benaki Toy Museum presents a collection of traditional Japanese toys and dolls related to traditional festivities that have shaped a part of Japanese culture for centuries.
In August 2017 Yiorgos Kaloudis brought music back to the Ancient Theater of Aptera, 17 centuries after the ancient city's demise. On Thursday, February 21, the master of the traditional Cretan lyre will perform a recital at Athens's Museum of Cycladic Art.
Legend has it that the intricate needlework used in embroidery known as "Lefkaritiko" lace was of such high quality that Leonardo Da Vinci himself bought a tablecloth when he visited this mountainous village in the late 15th century and gifted it to Milan’s cathedral.
The reputation of the marble sculptors of Pyrgos has traveled beyond the island, as they have taken part in major restoration projects, including the Acropolis in Athens, but also abroad.
The custom of the dowry, which has been largely dispensed with in modern Greece, is showcased in a fascinating exhibition at the Angeliki Hatzimichali Museum of Folk Art and Tradition.
On the occasion of Latvia’s centenary, the Baltic republic’s embassy in Athens presents an exhibition of photographs by Jurgis Rikveilis titled “From Folk Dresses to Clothing.”
Ten folk dance groups comprising 180 dancers from Thrace to the Peloponnese and from the islands of the Ionian to those of the Aegean, will gather on Patmos for the sixth Festival of Traditional Dance and Music, running from Friday, September 8, to Sunday, September 10.
Collectors will no doubt be aware of the figures from Greek history and mythology, but 20-year-old Petros Kaminiotis’s series of ornate traditional Greek costumes in miniature for the iconic figures take the pursuit to a whole new level.
