In Giannitsa the big feast of the year is not a saint's day but a fair: the Emporopanigyri of September, which goes back to Ottoman times. Around it, the Pella plain celebrates with customs brought by refugees from Pontos, Thrace, Eastern Rumelia and Cappadocia.
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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.
From September 6 to 13, south of Filippeio hill on the old bazaar ground, the Giannitsa fair sets up: the longest-running institution in town. Its roots go back to the 19th century, when the market was held on Egnatia street. Between the wars it moved to the north side of the city, and from the 1920s the trading stalls were joined by entertainment and events. For people from Giannitsa it is the autumn outing they remember from childhood: a week of stalls, crowds from all over Central Macedonia and music in the evenings.
The town and its villages were remade after 1922. More than 7,000 refugees settled in and around the town: Pontic Greeks from Trabzon and Giresun in Nea Trapezounta, Thracians in Archontiko, Cappadocians in Nea Axos, Eastern Rumelians, the Karyotes, near the town. The draining of Lake Giannitsa in the 1930s opened up the plain where new villages were built, such as Karyotissa, settled by refugees from Neochori in Eastern Thrace. That is why each village keeps its own songs and dances, and the local associations bring them out to the square on feast days.
At Christmas the Karyotes community lights the bonfires of "Kolinta Babo". On Christmas Eve young men, the Sartes, used to go from house to house singing carols that do not stop at the Nativity but tell the whole life of Christ, down to the Second Coming. The table holds the "nine dishes", and around the fire there is wine, beans with herbs, accordion and drums. In spring, on April 23 (or Easter Monday when Easter falls later), the church of Agios Georgios in Giannitsa keeps its feast, with the icon of the Panagia Miliotissa brought from Milia near Aridaia for veneration. And at Carnival neighbouring Krya Vrysi takes its parade to the streets, a tradition now more than thirty years old.
Every year from September 6 to 13, south of Filippeio hill on the bazaar ground. It is the oldest institution in town, with roots in Ottoman times, and mixes trade stalls, entertainment and evening events. See the current calendar on Mood.
Not in Pella itself. The nearest Anastenaria take place at Meliki in neighbouring Imathia on May 21, the feast of Saints Constantine and Helen, with lyra, drum and fire-walking, as brought by refugees from Kosti in north-eastern Thrace.
A Christmas custom of the Karyotes community in Giannitsa: bonfires on Christmas Eve, carols sung by groups of young men called Sartes, the "nine dishes" on the table, and wine and beans around the fire. Find events in the area on Mood.
