Pasiphae Hotel - Skala Kalloni

Special days on Lesvos:

Some traditions and celebrations on Lesvos are typical for Greece; others are special for the island, yet others unique for an area or village. In general the Kalloni area has, despite its size and importance, kept more of the old lifestyle and traditions than many other areas on the island.

Hotel Pasiphae is also an ideal accommodation for experiencing the special customs and many celebrations all over the island.

Here is a presentation of the main events throughout the year, and some of the festivals and feasts Lesvos is widely known for.

The Lent:

In the week before the beginning of the Lent, it is carnival-time in Greece and on Lesvos. People of all ages put on costumes and go out for a good time, filling streets, taverns and clubs with dancing-rhythms and creative disguises and joyful mood. The word carnival itself means “farewell to meat” (Spanish), and after a week of party and crazy clothes, starts the Lent 40 days before Easter Sunday. This day is often celebrated with speeches, theater and folkdance in public places and serving of traditional courses such as taramosaláta, (roe-salad) and the sweet halvá made of sesame-seed oil. The Lent is marked all over Lesvos, and few - if any - taverns serve meat on this day, but as the Lent itself is not followed so strictly any more, the meat comes back on the tables after some days.

25^th of March is celebrated as the day for the beginning of the Greek Revolution against the Turkish occupation. The revolution started in 1821 and lasted until liberation in 1912, and school-kids parade in all the larger towns and cities, also on Lesvos.

Greek Orthodox Easter:

The Greek Orthodox Easter Celebration is the most important event of the year, with a unique and memorable combination of religious masses, celebrations, lights and enlightenment, family, friends, meals and old customs:

After the Last Meal on Thursday, careful decorating of the Grave takes place in churches all night, before the statue of Christ is laid in the grave on Friday. In the evening the same day, people dress their best for the procession with the decorated Grave of Christ carried through the streets of their village. In the village of Dafia, it is custom to fire blanks as the procession passes the local graveyard.

Saturday evening around 11 pm, a symbolic Judas is burned on the huge bonfire in the square of Skala Kallonis – a very local and special tradition. Everywhere people are waiting inside and outside of church for the priest to announce that “Christ is Risen” by midnight, and as they in unison reply that “He is Truly Risen”, endless firecrackers explode on this main event of the Easter. From the new Holy Flame in the church, people light their candles to bring home the flame that will burn in small altars until next Easter.

Later many families gather for traditional soup at home, in Dafia and other places there are village parties with barbeque in the streets all night, and in many towns several discos are open.

After the Second Mass of Resurrection on Easter Sunday, family and friends get together for grilled lam in their gardens, and it is during this meal that the boiled, bright red eggs are knocked against each other: The blessings and good luck goes to the one that keeps his/hers eggs from cracking last.

Tuesday after Easter many set off for an all-day picnic in one of the many nice spots on the island, bringing food, drink and music.

If your group wants to experience the special Greek Orthodox Easter Celebrations, Hotel Pasiphae can be of assistance in suggesting and organising stays and programs that bring you to the centre of events.

Greek Easter Sundays to come: 2007: 8^th April, 2008: 27^th April, 2009: 19^th April, 2010: 4^th April.

1^st of May is also celebrated in Greece, most places on Lesvos more as a day for picnics than for politics.

Wild flowers are picked and hung over doors and gates, marking the official start of the spring.

Second Sunday after Easter people walk from all over Lesvos to the magnificent Church of the Taxiarch in Mandamados, the Taxiarch (Archangel Michael) regarded as the patron saint of Lesvos. The feast culminates with the symbolic "sacrifice" of an animal, later cooked over open-air fires, mixed with wheat and served to the pilgrimage-walkers.

In June or early July, the village Agia Paraskevi west of Kalloni is host to the famous and unusual “Festival of the Bull”. A decorated bull is led though the streets, touched for luck, and in the end cooked and served to the participants. Four days to an end this festival is about eating, drinking and dancing to live music in the streets, the last day also with popular horse-races just outside of the village.

Newer research is linking this very special customs to ancient sacrificial rituals, and even to the myth of the Minotaur.

25^th of July Saint Anna is celebrated in Skala Kallonis, with active street sellers, Lesviots and plenty of visitors in the square while the local church is celebrated.

Normally in late July or early August, Skala Kallonis is host to the popular “Sardine Festival”; the annual festival dedicated to the famous sardines from the Gulf of Kalloni. The streets fill with the festive smell of barbequed sardines, island ouzo, hot sweets and nuts, with rows of sellers offering their varied items, and live Greek music until late in the night. The event stretches over four days, from Thursday to Sunday.

Second in religious importance is 15^th of August, with the feast for the Virgin Mary. On this date thousand of pilgrims from all over Greece come to the mountain village Agiassos to pay homage to the icon of Virgin Mary in the church dedicated to her.

14^th of October Moni Limonos, the main monastery on Lesvos is celebrating its founding day (1526). Both street and square outside the large monastery gets filled with sellers offering everything from carpets to homemade sweets, and the sound the outdoor activity mixes with the sound of church bells and religious events inside.

When the locals celebrate in the church of the Moni Limonos-founder St.Ignatios, this is unique in Greece. Ignatios has not yet been officially canonised by the Greek Orthodox Church, as 500 years has to pass from his day of death before such a status can be achieved. But locally he is anyway regarded as one of the holy saints, and in the Kalloni area boys have been named Ignatios for many generations.

28^th of October 1941 the Greeks said “NO” to Mussolini’s ultimatum and therefore entered the Second World War, and as with 25^th of March this is celebrated as a National Day for Greece, with large parades in all cities.

17^th of November is marked as the end of the military dictatorship (the Junta, 1967 - 74), a day when also those that died during the democracy demonstrations outside the Polytechnic University in Athens in 1973 are remembered.

Christmas trees are not an old custom on the island, where a small boat or a model of a boat used to be decorated instead of a tree. This tradition has almost disappeared, but for instance in Molivos a full-size boat is placed on the main parking and decorated with lights every year.

On 25^th of December families gather for a Christmas-lunch at home. The New Year is also marked by a family meal on 1^st of January, with a review of the year gone, wishes for the one just started and cutting of the New Year’s pie with a lucky coin hidden inside.

Hotel Pasiphae has a long tradition for arranging large and popular celebrations on 25^th of December and 1^st of January, with food, live music and dancing all night.

Most churches also have their own day celebrated, (depending on what Saint they are dedicated to and when they are built) and for really local events an entire village, or even a town, can be closed for business while the locals join in the celebration.

But there are also personal reasons to celebrate:

Most Greeks have names after saints, inherited from their grandparents, and the name day is much more important than the birthday. Even if gifts sometimes are given, it is normal that food and drinks are bought and paid by the one whose name day it is. So if you announce your name day or birthday to your local friends while on Lesvos, be prepared to be covered in friendly kisses – and to pay the table’s bill.

Some of the most common names, their English counterparts and the dates they are celebrated:

Vasilis (Bill, William): 1/1, Yiannis (John, Jan) & Yianna (Joanne): 7/1, Yiorgos (George): 24/4, Irini (Irene): 5/5, Eleni (Ellen, Helen): 21/5, Maria (Mary) & Panayiotis (Peter): 15/8, Dimitris (Jimmy): 26/10, Stratos (Charles) & Michalis (Michael): 8/11, Nikos (Nicholas): 6/12, Anna (Ann): 9/12, Lefteris (Terry): 15/12, Christina (Christine) & Christos (Chris): 25/12.

Getting engaged in Greece is a planned and often announced event, were the two families get together for approving and blessing of the arrangement, and with special food and sweets only for this celebration. In the bigger cities on the mainland these customs are fading, but for the most part still kept and followed on Lesvos.

The happiest of events must without doubt be a wedding. With a normal-size wedding having between 150 - 350 guests, this is a celebration including villagers, family and friends of the couple as well as of the parents.

Starting late in the evening after a lengthy ceremony in church, the food, drink, music and dancing is enjoyed until the early hours.

It is not always normal to bring gifts to the celebration; these are rather given during the preparing of the Marriage Bed which takes place two days before the wedding. According to traditions the bed is to be made only by women, virgins or unmarried, and while singing special songs and organising the bed for the couple to be married, they throw money, gifts and to increase fertility, also a baby is briefly laid in the bed as part of the ritual.

The wedding celebration in the famous movie “My big, fat, Greek wedding” (2002) is not far from the real event, but as each place has its own customs and every family their own wishes, each wedding is unique.

Hotel Pasiphae has many years of experience in organising wedding celebrations with up to 350 guests, either inside the spacious restaurant or outside by the lighted swimming pool in the smooth summer nights.

Baptism of a child is another big event, were the ceremony includes the godparents to assist the priest in covering the child’s body in olive oil and pouring holy water over it. Afterwards there normally is a festive celebration with family, friends and priests invited.

And when a life ends, the funeral is normally held already the next days, and mourners meet for coffee after the ceremony. One year after the death, a memorial is held in church and special wine and bread are served.