An Andros panigiri runs in a set order: a service at the chapel or monastery, then tables with fourtalia and soumada, then violin and lute for the syrtos and the balos until the sky turns light.
Panigiria · Andros
May - September
Panigiria run from May to September, and the season peaks at Dekapentavgoustos - the Dormition, on 15 August - when most villages hold their feast. Each programme is set close to its own saint's day, so the list fills late and empties out of season.
August 15, the Dormition of the Virgin, is the island's big day. In Korthi the service at the Panagia church is followed by a procession of the icon through the lanes and dancing in the square late into the night. The same day belongs to Panachrantou Monastery, set into the hillside between Falika and Mesa Vouni above Chora, which by tradition was founded in 961 by the emperor Nikephoros Phokas and keeps the skull of St Panteleimon - so it has a second major feast on July 27. In Chora people climb from early morning to Panagia Thalassini, the chapel on a rock at the harbour entrance, built as a vow by sailors saved from a storm. Kochylos and other inland villages also keep the Panagia feast on August 15.
The food is specific to the island. Fourtalia, the Andros omelette with potatoes and sausage or cured pork, is what everyone waits for, and it comes with soumada, the local almond drink, diluted with water. Families used to bring their own provisions - meatballs, cold roasts, cheese, wine - and today the village cultural associations run most of the feasts. The music is violin and lute, often with santouri, and in the north of the island you still hear the tsambouna bagpipe with its drum. The Andros syrtos is slow and weighty, eleven steps circling the lead dancer who pulls the line, and it is followed by the balos, danced in pairs.
The calendar does not stop in August. On the Saturday of the Akathist Hymn in Lent the whole island honours Panagia Theoskepasti, its protector, in Chora, where the Easter midnight service goes off with fireworks. On Easter Monday people head to the Monastery of Panagia Tromarchiani near Piso Meria for a service and dancing to local instruments until evening. Villages such as Aidonia, Arni, Menites, Vourkoti and Kapparia hold their own summer nights, and on September 17 the feast of Agia Sofia at Vitali closes the season.
August 15 in Korthi, with a service, a procession of the icon and dancing in the square. The same day Panachrantou Monastery above Chora, the Panagia Thalassini chapel at Chora's harbour and villages such as Kochylos celebrate too. See the current calendar on Mood.
Fourtalia, the island's potato and sausage omelette, and soumada, a sweet almond drink. The band is violin and lute, often with santouri, and the dances are the Andros syrtos and the balos.
Yes. Panagia Theoskepasti in Chora is celebrated on the Saturday of the Akathist Hymn in Lent, and on Easter Monday the Monastery of Panagia Tromarchiani near Piso Meria holds a feast with dancing until evening. Check Mood for what is coming up.
