Local festivals and celebrations

Easter time and holy week

For the Greek Orthodox Church, the most important Christian festival is Easter. Some of the most beautiful hymns of Eastern religious music are sung during the Holy Week. Judas is a scarecrow made of straw and old clothes, which during the morning of Holy Saturday travels around the village on a donkey, while the people laugh at it and give out “kaltsounia” (cheese-pie) and sweets. The same scarecrow is burned in a big fire at midnight on Holy Saturday, symbolizing the cruel fate of the traitor. At the end of the service the Cultural Society of Vamos serves free food and wine to fellow villagers. This is also the end of the 40 days fast before Easter.

Easter Sunday is the most important moment of the Greek Orthodox Church calendar, a day of joy and fiesta, with lots of wine, dances and songs. The traditional food of the day is lamb on the spit through the whole of Greece, although in Crete very often the lamb is roasted in an oven over the branches of vines.

Celebration of Foudanakia 23 of June

The day of “Klidonas” is celebrated every year on the 23th of June, a day connected with St. John, although it is based on the pagan celebration of the God Apollo, the Zoroastrian adoration of the fire and the longest day of the year. It is a day when divination plays a main role. In accordance with the customs of Crete, on the 23rd the unmarried girls of the village fill a ceramic pot with water and throw in something small called “rizikari”, such as a fruit, a jewel, a key etc. The pot is covered with a red cloth and they open it the next day (the 24th), when one after the other these small things are taken out. A big fiesta comes next with food and wine, while big fires are built from the wreaths made on the first of May and the youngsters jump over them! Every year in Vamos the local Cultural Society organizes the day of “Klidonas” in the small square of “Pitsikounis” in the heart of the village with great success and almost the whole of the village as well as visitors of Vamos will attend.

Panigyria- village fiestas

"Panigyria" are the festivities which can be found around rural Greece, connected with the celebration of a Saint. They have always been a very good opportunity for social life in the villages and there is always live traditional music there. Here are the most important ones in Vamos and the area:

The 15th of August is the day of the “Koimisis” of the Virgin Mary, one of the most important days of the Greek Orthodox Church, after only Easter and Christmas. Thousands of “panigyria” happen around the whole of the country! The most important ones in Apokoronas are in Litsarda, Kefalas, Exopolis, Fres, Pemonia, Likotinara and Alikambos. For two days, the 14th and the 15th of August, the whole area is singing and dancing!

The 5th and the 6th of August; the days of the Saviour Jesus, sees the“panigyri” in Xirosterni, one of the most well known and popular in Apokoronas!

On the 29th of August; the day of St. John “Rigologos”, are the “panigyria” of Vafes and Douliana, two of the most picturesque villages of Apokoronas!

August summer concerts

Summer is the time of the year when you can find lots of cultural events around the country as well as around Crete. With concerts, theatre and many other cultural events, the visitor has plenty of choices. On our social media pages you will find a program for most of the events of the area.