Thiva - ancient Thebes, in Boeotia - has two big celebrations that look nothing alike: the Vlach Wedding, which turns the town into an open-air Carnival party to the sound of drums, and the late-August fair, when the spits of roast piglet turn from morning to night.
Nothing on right now
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.
The Vlach Wedding is a mock shepherds' wedding, a satire of a traditional one, that starts on Tsiknopempti (the smoky Thursday of Carnival), continues on Cheese Sunday and peaks on Clean Monday, the first day of Lent. Vlach herders from the Aspropotamos area brought it to Thebes in the 19th century, and it carries roots in Dionysian fertility rites - fitting for the city that myth names as the birthplace of Dionysus. Everything happens in order: the matchmaking, the showing of the dowry, the engagement and the wedding, with the bride traditionally played by a man. The party spreads through the square of Agios Ioannis Kaloktenis, the Vlachomachalas quarter, Megali Panagia and the chapel of Agia Triada by the ancient Dirce spring, with daouli drum and pipiza (a shawm, like the zurna) played by Roma musicians, syrtos dances and the ribbon-weaving gaitanaki, Lenten food, halva, olives and wine.
In summer the peak comes at the end of August. From August 23, the ninth day after the Dormition of the Virgin, Thiva holds its trade fair alongside the feast of its Metropolitan church, which is dedicated to the Virgin - a tradition dating to the 19th century that runs for about a week. Hundreds of stalls line Pindarou street with clothes, bells, loukoumades and halva, and in tavernas across the municipality the gourounopoula, spit-roasted local piglet, sets the tone. On August 6 the faithful climb to Sagmata, a 12th-century monastery on Mount Ypatos above the village of Ypato, for the Transfiguration, and across Boeotia each village parish keeps its saint's day with tables and dancing in the square.
Thiva also has a saint of its own: at the south-eastern edge of town is the tomb of Luke the Evangelist, who by tradition taught and was martyred here. The local church honours him with great ceremony on October 18, and on September 17 marks the return of his relics. For anyone who wants the sea with their panigiri, the municipality's villages on the Corinthian Gulf - Livadostra, Alyki, Sarandi, Agios Vasileios - are a short drive away.
At Carnival: it starts on Tsiknopempti, continues on Cheese Sunday and peaks on Clean Monday, with the matchmaking, dowry, engagement and wedding played out in the town's squares and neighbourhoods. When events are announced, they are on Mood.
It opens on August 23, the ninth day after the Dormition, together with the feast of the Metropolitan church, and lasts about a week. The stalls line Pindarou street and spit-roast piglet is the dish of the fair.
On August 6 Sagmata monastery on Mount Ypatos celebrates the Transfiguration, on August 15 many Boeotian villages hold their feast, and from August 23 the town has its fair. See the current programme on Mood.
