Tourist Mykonos and panigiri Mykonos operate almost entirely separately. Ano Mera, 8km east of Chora, keeps a calendar centred on a monastery that has stood there since 1580 - and the August 23 Apodosis draws more locals than August 15, passing almost unnoticed by visitors.
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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.
Ano Mera, the only inland village with around 800 permanent residents, keeps a calendar parallel to the Mykonos of international tourism. The Monastery of Panagia Tourliani (founded 1580) is the centre of the island's working festive life. The August 15 feast draws back the emigrants who return each summer along with the permanent community. The largest local feast, though, is August 23 - the Apodosis, the closing day of the feast of the Dormition, eight days after the main date. The Apodosis at Tourliani is described as having 'mass participation by the devout Mykonians' and is considered by residents the more significant of the two. The tourist economy and the feast calendar move on separate tracks; the panigiria at Ano Mera, Skalado, Marathi and Vorna have gathered the same community here for generations.
The traditional instrument of the Mykonian panigiri is the tsampouna - the Cycladic goatskin bagpipe - in a duet with the toubaki (a small hand-made drum). GreekReporter research in 2022 recorded the tsampouna on Mykonos as a craft 'at risk of being lost', with fewer active players and a break in the normal chain of transmission. The traditional food differs from restaurant menus: ewe in tomato sauce, boiled meat, lardi with cabbage, lemon broth, bread and sweets shared after vespers. Tables are laid in the outbuildings of the chapels in the traditional way. The ballaristos - a dance specific to Mykonos, distinct from the Cycladic balos - is danced at the village panigiria. The feast of Agia Marina at Ano Mera on July 17 is another of the large summer panigiria.
Mainly at Ano Mera, the inland village 8km east of Chora, and above all at Tourliani Monastery (founded 1580). Other panigiria are held at Skalado (Profitis Ilias, July 20), Marathi, Vorna and Agia Anna. August 15 and especially August 23 (the Apodosis) at Tourliani are the largest days in the local calendar.
The tsampouna is a goatskin bagpipe - the oldest instrument of the Cyclades - played alongside the toubaki in the traditional Mykonian duet. In 2022 GreekReporter recorded the instrument as endangered on the island, with a break in normal transmission and fewer active players. The ballaristos, a dance specific to Mykonos and distinct from the Cycladic balos, is danced at the village panigiria.
