All events in Kastoria
Panigiria Near
Kastoria's great celebration does not fall in summer: it falls in January, and runs for three days in which the entire town puts on a disguise and takes to the streets.
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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
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Panigiria Near Kastoria
The Ragoutsaria begin on January 6, the day of Epiphany. Men and women, young and old, organise into bouloukia - troupes, each with its own traditional band - and revel through the streets of the town in a thousand kinds of disguise. The custom peaks on January 8, the Pateritsa as locals call it, the feast day of Agia Dominiki, with the great parade of the carnival troupes. It is held to be among the most authentic Greek festivals of the twelve days of Christmas, with visible roots in ancient Dionysian worship.
Its sound is specific and nothing like an island or Epirot feast: the brass leads - trumpets, trombones, saxophones - alongside percussion, and together they make a continuous soundscape that covers the whole town for three days. The food is the food of those days: sarmades, cabbage rolls made with armia, and meatballs with makalo. In Western Macedonia the custom does not stand alone - from Christmas to Epiphany the region lives one continuous festive wave that opens with the Koliada and the pig feasts and closes here, at the Ragoutsaria.
Common questions
What are the Ragoutsaria of Kastoria?+
A carnival custom of the twelve days of Christmas, starting on January 6, the day of Epiphany: masked troupes with their own bands revel through the streets, and the custom peaks on January 8, the Pateritsa, with the great parade.
What music is played at the Ragoutsaria?+
Mainly brass - trumpets, trombones, saxophones - with percussion. Each troupe has its own band, and together they create a continuous soundscape across the whole town.