Tradition is mainly preserved in the small communities of Thera. The religious festivals, the weddings with their customs and the traditional musical instruments that accompany all the activities of the wedding ceremony, the local cuisine and the wineries where grapes are processed, constitute some elements of the island’s lively tradition. One of the greatest festivals takes place on 15th August, in the celebration of Panagia Episkopi. One day before, people start preparing in massive pans the traditional bean soup and fava which are served in the evening after the evening prayer. The festival of Agia Patrona in Finikia is rather interesting as well. According to tradition, in the Saviors’s festival, in Pyrgos, some days before the religious celebration, the young people of the village are stealing basil pots from the girls’ gardens in order to decorate the temple’s dome.
During the days of great religious celebrations -including the ones of Panagia Myrditiotissa in Kamari, Panagia Platsani in Oia, the Holy Cross in Perissia and the 15th August- there are festivals taking place in several villages and in the monastery of Profitis Ilias with food, music, wine and local dances.
Other Celebretaions
– Representation of the volcanic eruption, every August, usually after the 15th, by use of fireworks and flares. There is usually a concert organised at the end of the night.
– Representation of traditional wedding ceremonies: during summer in Akrotiri and Fira, visitors can become familiar with the ceremony process of a traditional wedding in Santorini.
– Easter: the Epitaph procession in Pyrgos.
– Ovrios The burning of Judas: on Easter Sunday the so-called ‘People’s court of Ovrios Judas is organised in several villages of Thera.