The two processions of the relics of Saint Dionysios mark the island's principal panigiria through the year. And as on Corfu, the music is not Aegean: four-voice arekies sung without instruments, kantades with guitar and mandolin, and a philharmonic founded in 1816.
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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.
The patron of Zakynthos is Saint Dionysios, bishop of Aegina, a native of the island. His memory is honoured on August 24, when the relics are carried through the streets of the town in the afternoon, with celebrations spread across more than one day. The two processions of the relics within the year - August 24 and December 17 - are the principal panigiria held on the island. The Philharmonic plays in the streets at the feast of Saint Dionysios, as it does in Holy Week and at Christmas, making the wind band - not the folk ensemble - the sound of public celebration.
Zakynthian music divides into four kinds: church music, folk songs and dances, arekies and kantades. The arekies are the oldest form of the Ionian kantada - the name comes from the Italian 'a orecchio', by ear - and are performed by four voices without instrumental accompaniment, in a distinctive harmony where the third voice often sings higher than the first. The kantades, or serenades, are the most popular form of art music in the Ionian islands: polyphonic pieces for choir with guitar and mandolin. The Zakynthos Philharmonic was founded on May 1 1816 at the proposal of the Italian music teacher Marco Battagel and reappeared in 1823 under his direction; it is the oldest Greek musical society and the model for the philharmonics of the Ionian islands and later the rest of Greece.
His memory is honoured on August 24, with the relics carried through the streets of the town in the afternoon. The two processions of the relics within the year - August 24 and December 17 - are the principal panigiria on the island. The Philharmonic plays in the streets at both.
The arekies are the oldest form of the Ionian kantada - the name comes from the Italian 'a orecchio' ('by ear'). They are sung by four voices without instrumental accompaniment, in a distinctive harmony where the third voice often goes higher than the first. Separate from them stand the kantades or serenades, polyphonic pieces for choir with guitar and mandolin.
