| Kasos celebrates many traditional Greek festivals each year. Festivals are often related to churches, which are decorated for the occasion and in which there will normally be a service at some point during the day. Food is prepared from early in the morning so that it is ready to be served in the evening. Serving is normally done by the men who pass plates from one to the other along a distribution line. Then, after a suitable period of inevitable waiting, there will then be traditional music and dancing until the early hours.
The above pictures show a decorated Ag Fanourios before the evening service and everyone waiting for the music to begin at Eleros. Below are the most important dates for Kasos with links to the Gallery where appropriate.
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23 Apr, Feast of Saint George - This festival is not on 23 April every
year, it depends on the date of Easter. If 23 April falls during Holy Week, the Feast of Saint George takes place 2-3 days after Easter. One of the three most deeply revered shrines on the island, Agios Giorgos at Xadhies, hosts the celebrations of this warrior saint's feast day. The chapel is on the road to the deep and spectacular bay of Xelatros. St George has collected a great many stories and legends around him. The one that has clung most closely paints him as a maiden-saving dragon-slayer, and in Greek iconography he is most often shown mounted on a rearing horse with his spear thrust down into some dangerous-looking winged creature. In truth he seems
to have come from a well-to-do Christian family in Cappadocia. After his father's death he went to Palestine where his mother's family owned property, and held a high post in the Roman army - so the image of a soldier saint at least, is accurate. Greek sources tell that he was martyred in Palestine when he laid aside his office and protested at the way in which the Romans were persecuting the early Christians. 
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21 May, Agios Constantinos - This is the feast day of Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine and his mother are usually shown together in icons as their stories are inextricably linked. They are credited with establishing Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. 
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6 Jun, Holocaust of kasos - Unlike the other festivals this day of commemoration is not linked to religious observance except in the broadest sense. It is the anniversary of the destruction inflicted on Kasos by the Turks in 1824 and as such is still of great significance to the islanders. This is recognised by the central government in Athens, which usually sends a high ranking official to the ceremonies. Although the events marked were tragic, nowadays an atmosphere of celebration surrounds them as the Kasiot variation on the theme of David and Goliath is remembered and honoured. Read more about this on the History page. 
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| 17 Jul, Agia Marina - This is an important festival for the island since the largest village is named after Saint Marina. As is the case with many saints, the events of the life of Saint Marina are a little unclear. She is traditionally depicted wearing a red mantle and a stern expression. Often she is in the company of a black dog. In one version of her story the dog is said to have been recognised by her as Satan in disguise and beaten to death. An alternative tale tells of a young girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to enter a monastery. Falsely accused of a rape, she bore exile and punishment bravely and was only revealed as a woman upon her death. The festival in her honour is held in the village church and its yard and hall. Food is prepared during the daytime and there is a service. In the evening the villagers come together to eat, listen to music and dance. |
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19 Jul, Profitis Elias - This is the day before the feast day of the Prophet Elijah. The Ai'Mariniotes are joined by people from all over the island for the steep climb up the hill behind the village to the chapel dedicated to the Prophet. There, after vespers, refreshments are offered. Typically a couple of tired donkeys have carried up canisters of orange juice, and large round loaves of freshly baked spiced bread which are carved into chunks and handed round with Sitaka cheese. Throughout Greece hilltop locations are most often chosen for chapels dedicated to the desert-dwelling Prophet. 
See the photos in the Gallery |
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6 Aug, Christos - From the 6th to the 15th of August, for eight consecutive days, the Church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ. |
15 Aug, The day of the Panagia - This is the feast day of the Virgin Mary and is celebrated throughout Greece with a fervour only surpassed at Easter. In Kasos the village of Panagia takes pride of place in leading the festivities. The image below is taken from the Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos and shows the Virgin Mary with the Christ child. It dates from the last quarter of the 13th century. In it the Virgin is called Odegetria (which means instructress or guide) because of the unexpected sadness of her expression which is seen as foretelling the events leading to the passion. 
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27 Aug, Agios Fanourios - This is the feast day of Saint Fanourios. Much loved and prayed to as the saint of lost causes, people and things, not much is known about the details of his life. He has become more widely known through the recipes for his special cake - Fanouropitta - that have appeared in books on Greek cuisine all over the world. In Kasos his festival has traditionally been loved and attended by the shepherds, goatherders and their families. 
See the photos in the Gallery |
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2 Sep, Agios Mamas - This saint completes the trio that is particularly revered on Kasos (the other two being Saint George and Saint Marina) so this is an important festival. Saint Mamas is said to have been a hermit In Cyprus. He refused to pay taxes to the Byzantine authorities and was summoned to Constantinople to explain himself. On the way a lion and a lamb (with both of which he is often portrayed) come into the story, but exactly how is a little unclear. Although his relics found their way to France in the 8th century and the Church officially regards him as the patron saint of orphans and torture victims, in Cyprus where he is better known and where there are 14 churches dedicated to him, he is affectionately regarded to this day as the patron saint of tax avoiders! The remote mountaintop monastery dedicated to him on Kasos enjoys a dramatic position among the cliffs on the wild south side of the island. For the festival the usually deserted monastery springs to life. Traditional food is prepared in the kitchens and there is music and dancing that goes on into the small hours. Many Kasiots who live in Athens and further afield return specially for this festival, making an overnight stay of it, camping in the monastery buildings and helping with the considerable clearing up in the morning. 
See the photos in the Gallery |
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7 Sep, Panagia Ellerou - This festival is held on the south side of the island where a tiny chapel dedicated to the Virgin nestles among the shepherds' huts ("Mitata"). A service takes place in the early evening followed by traditional food. As in the other festivals this consists of a plate for every person, piled high with Kasiot specialities. Lamb or goat meat is stewed slowly in huge copper cauldrons over an open fire. When the meat is tender, tomatoes and cinnamon are added to the stock for the "pilafi" rice. Together with tiny dolmades (on Kasos the smaller, the better) and fried potatoes, the plates are complete. They are passed out hand to hand until everyone is served. Then the music and dancing begin. Everyone is welcome to step inside and admire the shepherds' huts that look their best on this day. Polished cooking utensils decorate the walls and gleaming china lines the shelves. Sometimes it is hard to tell if the sounds of "tsambalia" are coming from the flocks moving quietly in the shadows outside or from visitors accidentally knocking into a couple of old and treasured bells that may be hanging from a nail. The voices of the bells blend together. So do the flames of the little cooking fires where many small satellite feasts are being prepared and the welcome is warm. 
See the photos in the Gallery |
| 14 Sep, Stavros - The feast day that commemorates the Holy Cross. The church of Stavros, where the festival is celebrated, is in the village of Agia Marina. All the food served at the festival is vegetarian and, as with many of the other festivals, there is music and dancing late into the night. |
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26 Oct, Agios Dimitrios - This is the feast day of Saint Dimitrios, the young nobleman from Thessaloniki, martyred for his faith. He, like Saint George, is usually shown in icons mounted on a horse (although there is a beautiful and much copied icon in the monastery of Vatopedi on Mt Athos which shows only a grave and pensive young man in courtly dress with remarkably sad eyes as shown below). You can tell the two mounted saints apart at a glance as St George is traditionally riding a grey while St Dimitrios' mount is usually a bay. Also, George is killing a dragon or some other mythical beast, while Dimitrios' spear points down at a recognisably human "infidel". 
See the photos in the Gallery |
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12 Dec, Agios Spiridonas - This is the Feast day of Saint Spyridon another saint from Cyprus. This fearless Bishop is greatly revered in Corfu, where he is the Patron Saint of the island. Stories about his life include a miraculous transformation of a bar of gold
that, being commanded by Spyridon to reveal its true nature, writhed and slithered away as a serpent. Another story relates his use of the shards of a pot to demonstrate the nature of the Holy Trinity. Earth, fire and water combine together to produce a wholly other thing (the pot) without losing their own qualities. The shards in his hands are said to have produced water from their lower portion and flames from the top parts. This miraculous transformation of materials has, perhaps unsurprisingly, made Saint Spyridon the Patron Saint of potters! 
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