Easter in Macedonia

THASSOS

In the Community of Limenaria the ancient "Come April and rain" custom takes place on Easter Tuesday. Folk dances are performed by groups from all over Greece.
MUNICIPALITY : tel.: 25930 23118, 25930 23918, 25930 51206

CHALKIDIKI (IERISSOS)

The most important Easter custom here is observed on Easter Tuesday, on the hills. After religious service, the older people start the dance. Gradually all the local people join in, until the line of dancers is often 400 metres long.

All the Easter songs are sung and danced to, ending with the "Kangelefto" dance, which is a re-enactment of the slaughter of 400 inhabitants of Ierissos by the Turks during the War of Independence of 1821. The dancers pass under an arch of laurels, where two young men with raised swords are standing. In the middle of the song, the row of dancers doubles back onto itself and the dancers pass each other in a final farewell.

During the course of the celebrations, coffee made in a large cauldron,"zografitikos" sweet bread and eggs are served. The dance is performed again in the evening in the main square of the village.
MUNICIPALITY : tel.: 23770 22494. (Stagira Akanthou).

LITOCHORO

In the evening of Holy Thursday, the liturgical biers are decorated by unmarried girls, who during Lent have been busy making artificial flowers out of cloth for this purpose. In the evening of Good Friday the various epitaphios processions, of the region's churches accompanied by choirs of local people, meet in the marketplace, creating a memorable spectacle.
MUNICIPALITY : tel.: 23520 84701/5

PETROKERASA (CHALKIDIKI)

The relic of the True Cross which is kept in the Xeropotamou Monastery of Mount Athos is brought to the Macedonian village of Petrokerasa (Community tel.:23930 71216), 52 kms from Thessaloniki. The village has the "sacred privilege", unique in the world, of being the home of the relic of the True Cross from Palm Sunday until Monday morning in the Holy Week. This is to commemorate of the saving of the village from extinction by a deadly epidemic (plague) in the mid 18th century.
MUNICIPALITY : tel.: 23930 31514