All events in Drama
Panigiria Near Drama
In Drama the great popular gathering is not in August but in January. The villages of the prefecture keep the most striking Epiphany rituals in Greece, with masks, hides and heavy bells.
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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.
Panigiria in other cities
Panigiria Near Drama
The custom of the Arapides is performed on Epiphany itself, January 6, at Monastiraki in Drama, and concludes there the same evening. Related rituals are revived in neighbouring villages - at Kali Vrysi, Pagoneri, Volakas and Xiropotamo. At Kali Vrysi the leading figures are the Babougera: men in animal disguise, girded with heavy bells, who appear immediately after the blessing of the waters. The bell-wearers of Eastern Macedonia come out either at Epiphany or at Carnival, and their sound - dozens of bells together in a narrow street - is what one remembers first. The roots are held to be Dionysian, and the region has kept them unbroken.
The rest of the calendar follows the familiar Macedonian pattern: saint's days in the villages, dancing in the square, live music and long tables. At Prosotsani the Klidonas custom has been revived since 2001 by the municipality's Thracian and Asia Minor cultural association - a June celebration tied to the refugee origins of much of the population. Drama is a prefecture of mountainous north and tobacco-growing plain, and the feasts divide accordingly: in the mountain villages they keep the character of a ritual, on the plain that of a celebration with a band.
Common questions
What are the Arapides in Drama?+
An Epiphany ritual, on January 6, at Monastiraki in Drama: men disguised in hides and masks, girded with heavy bells, take to the streets after the blessing of the waters. Related customs are revived at Kali Vrysi, Pagoneri, Volakas and Xiropotamo.
When does Drama hold its panigiria?+
The peak is at Epiphany and at Carnival, when the bell-wearers come out. Through the rest of the year the villages keep their own saint's days, while at Prosotsani the Klidonas custom is revived in June.