Every year in Thessaloniki there is help the Bell roads festival. Many groups of people bearing bells (20 to 30 teams each year) from Greece and abroad take part. There are more than 1500 people active. Disguised dancers, musicians, will parade on the streets of the city.
The phallus is the main subject of the festival. It symbolizes reproduction and fertility.
The traditional event of the ''Kapetania'' takes place on the last Sunday of the Carnival in Serifos Island. According to tradition, two teams, each one with a captain, stage a theatrical conflict outside the Monastery of the Taxiarches. The custom has been kept alive thanks to the efforts of the Serifos Women's Association.
In an old and somehow derelict part of the city center, dozens of street restaurants and food stalls pile up local delicacies, traditional dishes from other regions and even the odd "contemporary" dish.
They started wrestling. Nobody was backing up. From where I was standing I could not take good pictures. When I approached the wrestlers, the watchers started yelling at me for ruining their view. I decided to be exactly behind the referee in order not to disturb anyone and when I saw something interesting I took pictures as fast as possible.
A bazaar for selling, buying and trading horses and mules
Suddenly I hear a loud noise and songs and then I see them in a row going out through the woods. The point where they come out is green, full of tall ferns and dense firs. I'm lucky, it's worth it, the bad weather also helps.
The monastery of Saint Panteleimon, near Vlasti Kozanis, celebrates its patron saint. Many pilgrims arrive to pray and at the same time the villagers climb the mountain on the back of their horses.
The tribes of upper Sepic gather in this feast wearing traditional costumes and participating in frenzied dances. Feathers of various birds like the mighty Cassowary or the emblematic bird of paradise, shells, grass skirts, teeth of crocodiles and warthogs, bows and spears and of course full body painting are just a few elements of these traditional costumes. The decoration is completed with live baby crocodiles, hanging on men, women and children.
After eating a delicious food, singing starts. There are local musicians playing. Oldest men sing first, the priest also. In a while, dancing starts. This will last until morning.
After three and a half hours we had walked the whole village and visited every house. The koudouniarides had sung and danced all this time but i was the only one feeling tired and frozen.
Very different New Year celebration with groups of brass instrument players, playing and dancing around the town