| Kos Holidays HOLIDAYS IN KOS ISLAND |
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If your in Kos Island, and there is a festival on, you will be welcomed by the local community,why not join in, and have fun with everyone else. |
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Protochronia is the 1st of January, New Years Day. Gifts are often exchanged and the New Year greeting is "Kali Chronia", meaning "Good Year". |
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Theofanis or Epiphany - A religious ceremony takes place during which, according to tradition a cross is dropped into the sea to sanctify it. This is retrieved by young male divers and handed to the Bishop. White doves are released to fly over the sea. |
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Clean Monday (Kathari Deftera) |
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The first day of Lent, the house id spring-cleaned and unleavened bread, lagana, is baked. |
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It is traditional on this day for children everywhere to fly kites. A note: As the date of Easter is movable, so is Clean Monday. |
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Kos and the other Dodecanese Islands became re-united with Greece and this is celebrated with the school children, army and silver band parading the streets. |
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The outbreak of Greek Revolution against the Turks in 1821, is commemorated by parades, folk dances and other events. |
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Easter is the biggest religious festival of the year in Greece, and the whole country has an air of celebration. On Good Friday people in towns and villages everywhere carry candles and follow the procession of the Epitaph. On Saturday the ceremony of the Resurrection takes place in front of all churches and bells are rung all over the towns and cities. At midnight, the priest lights a candle and then passes the flame to nearby members of the congregation,in turn, everyone makes their way home, taking care to keep the flame alight, to make the sign of the cross at their front door. This ensures that evil spirits will be kept away for the coming year. What follows is the breaking of the fast, Lent is quite rigidly adhered to, and there is a traditional feast of dyed red Easter eggs and Magiritsa soup. |
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Easter Day - (According to the Orthodox calendar) |
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On Easter Sunday the air is filled with the aroma of lambs being roasted on a spit and there is wine in abundance. Bolied eggs, painted red, are cracked against each other and the person with the last remaining uncracked egg will have good luck throughout the year.
Easter is one of the most beautiful times to be in Greece, wild flowers are everywhere to to be seen, and the countryside is amazingly green. |
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Protomayia, or the 1st of May is Labor Day and the Feast of Flowers. Wreaths of wild flowers and garlic are made and hung on doors to ward off evil, and there is a tendency for people to go to the country for picnics. |
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Saint Kostas and Saint Eleni celebrate day, and is one of the most celebrated name days with many Greeks being named after these two saints. |
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Pentikosti (Whit Sunday) falls seven weeks after Easter, which normally takes place in June, and is an important Orthodox feast day, celebrated throughout Greece. |
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Representation of Klidonas and Fanos. Eleftheria's Square at 8 pm. The celebration concurswith the birth of John the Baptist. For this reason they are traditionally called "Saint John's Fires". With the sun changes, the Ancient Greeks considered this day crucial and they were affected by it. The strength of the fire affected psychologically the people and they thought that they derived something from the magic flames. That is why they would jump over them in moments of elevation and passion. Jumping over the ire would lead to a better future.
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In Kos the Hippocratia Festival is held which includes musical, dramatic, and artistic erformances and athletic contests. |
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The Dormition of the Virgin Mary is celebrated by popular festivals at many Churches and Chapels on the island. The second biggest religious holiday after Easter. |
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The annual Honey Festival in the village of Antimachia, Kos Island. Don't miss this festival! |
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28th October - (known as the Greek's negation "Oxi" to nazism and fasism) |
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Greece's National Day. The country's refusal to submit to the Italian ultimatum in 1940, is commemorated by parades, folk dancing and other events. |
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Michalis and Maria, two of the biggest name days of the year, fall in November. Many churches are named after the Archangels Gabriel and Michalis and the celebration of this particular name day is huge, especially in the Dodecanese Islands. |
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Christmas is a national holiday in Greece though it is less significant than Easter. In recent years, the celebrations have taken on a much more western style with Christmas trees appearing everywhere and gifts being exchanged. |
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On New Years Eve, children traditionally go from door to door singing Christmas to be rewarded with money or sweets. For the adults, New Years Eve is generally spent playing cards until midnight when the Vassilopitta is cut, a special bread baked with a a lucky coin inside. The bread is cut into pieces, wishes are made, and the person finding the coin is "guaranteed" good luck for the New Year. |
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Greek names come from the Saints and sometimes the Gods, and people celebrate their name day on the day their Saint was born. If named after a God, there is one day they celebrate all together, once a year. Name days tend to be more important than Birthdays. |
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It is usual for the first child to be named after the father's mother or father and the second after the mother's father or mother. In this way, names are passed down the family tree. If you are invited to a name day celebration, take a bottle of alcohol or some small cakes or sweets and wish the person "Chronia Polla", meaning "Many Years". |
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Listed here are some of the more popular names and their name days, with the English equivalent, so you can check when your name day is celebrated. |
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1 January |
Vassilis / Vassiliki |
William / Vicky |
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7 January |
Yiannis / Yianna |
John / Joanna |
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17 January |
Andonis / Andonia |
Anthony / Anita |
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18 January |
Kirillos |
Cyril |
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22 January |
Timotheas |
Timothy |
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25 January |
Grigoris |
Gregory |
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27 Feb |
Theodoros |
Theodore |
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24 April |
Elisavet |
Elizabeth |
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1 May |
Yorgos / Georgia |
George / Georgina |
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9 May |
Christoforos |
Christopher |
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18 May |
lulia |
Julie / Julia |
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21 May |
Eleni / Kostas |
Helen / Constantine |
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29 June |
Petros / Pavlos |
Peter / Paul |
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24 July |
Christina |
Christine |
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15 August |
Despina / Maria |
Deborah / Maria / Mary |
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Panayiotis / Panayiota |
Peter / Pam / Penny |
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26 August |
Natalia |
Natalie |
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30 August |
Alexandros |
Alexander |
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1 Sept |
Margarita |
Margaret |
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3 October |
Dionysios |
Dennis |
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26 October |
Dimitrios |
James / Jim |
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21 Nov |
Maria |
Mary / Marie |
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25 Nov |
Katerina |
Catherine |
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6 Dec |
Nikolaos / Nikoletta |
Nicholas / Nichola |
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26 Dec |
Emmanouil / Manolis |
Emmanuel / Manos |
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