Every year, after the celebration of Saint Dimitrios, children in Siatista village go to the fields and vineyards in order to gather dry grasses and set up all-night fires
Purpuris will be visiting the houses of the village and dance around their yards. He will wish prosperity and fertility for the year to come and the house owner will treat him with food and drinks, usually Tsipouro.
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.
Carnival in the Macedonian warrior uniform
A fake wedding with music, wine and all
Very different New Year celebration with groups of brass instrument players, playing and dancing around the town
Bell bearers to scare away the Kallikantzaroi
The Epiphany days in the village of Volakas. From newlywed couples dancing in freezing water, to scary animal looking masquerade of pastoral bell bearers
Some women visit home to home to invite others to the feast. They go into the yards, they chase chickens, dance, eat doughnuts made by housewives to cure them, drink wine. This goes on in every house and on the streets of the village.
The clock was ticking. It was getting dark and more people were going out in the streets, dressed as carnivals, ready to have some good time. You could hear Balkan music everywhere.
You can see the pain in some firewalkers' face, some others show no expression or emotion. This year, there is one girl that will participate in this custom for the first time. After two hurtful tries, she stops, but not because she was hurting as she said but because she felt sad since Saint Konstantin and Saint Helena did not help her, did not blessed her by making her capable of walking on fire.
The winter edition of San Simeon festival of the city of Missolonghi. All nighters inside huts in the woods around the monastery of San Simeon.