All events in Kozani
Panigiria Near
In Kozani the celebration is not set up in a village square but around a fire, and not in August but at carnival: the custom of the Fanoi is the town's identity.
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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.
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Panigiria Near Kozani
The Fanoi are bonfires lit in the neighbourhoods of Kozani, with dancing and singing set up around them. They are lit across the whole town at about eight in the evening on the last Sunday of carnival, and the people of each neighbourhood start singing at once. Wine flows freely and the traditional Kozani pies, the kichi, go round everywhere. The songs are the traditional carnival ones - the xinetropa or skoptika - teasing and free-tongued, as the day allows.
What keeps the custom alive is that nobody organises it from above: it rests on the spontaneous participation of the residents, who build their own neighbourhood's fanos and lead the celebration around it. Many folklorists connect the custom directly to the ancient Dionysian festivals and the Roman Saturnalia. Kozani is not alone in this: across Western Macedonia, from Christmas to Epiphany and a little beyond, one continuous festive wave runs - the Koliada, the pig feasts, the Ragoutsaria of Kastoria - and the Fanoi are its Kozani chapter. There is no ticket and no timetable: you walk up to the neighbourhood's fire, wine and pie are handed to you, and you stay as long as the singing lasts.
Common questions
What are the Fanoi of Kozani?+
Bonfires lit in the town's neighbourhoods at about eight in the evening on the last Sunday of carnival. Around them a celebration is set up with dancing, plenty of wine, the local kichi pies and the traditional satirical songs.
Who organises the custom?+
Nobody centrally - it rests on the spontaneous participation of the residents, who build their own neighbourhood's fanos and lead the celebration around it.