REGIONAL UNIT OF XANTHI: TRADITION AND CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
Festivals and celebrations in the city of Xanthi
In the city of Xanthi, contemporary cultural creation converses with tradition. Famous institutions are the Old Town Festival and the Xanthi Carnival.
The Old Town Festival has been held at the beginning of September each year since 1991, on the initiative of the Municipality and with the participation of cultural and folklore associations. Musical, dancing, artistic and other cultural events are hosted in the picturesque cobbled alleyways with their traditional houses and old tobacco merchants’ mansions.
The Xanthi Carnival – Thracian Folk Festival dates from 1965. It was born out of the carnival masquerade balls, the costumes, crinolines and cantada serenades of the city’s urban classes in the early 20th century, as well as the rural carnival of Thrace, with its satirical floats, masqueraders and men hung with sheep’s bells. Today, folk performances, groups of masqueraders, satirical floats, music and dancing all create a festive atmosphere that entrances locals and visitors alike. The highlight of the celebration is the carnival parade and the burning of the human effigy of Tzaros, with phrases such as “…the bad old year goes out”, “the good year comes in”, “Out with short February”, “Out with fleas and rats”. The custom of burning the effigy was brought by refugees from Eastern Thrace in 1922.
Xanthi could well be called the “city of festivals”. “Xanthi, City of Dreams” Music Schools Festival is the music festival of the Youth of Xanthi, starring students of music schools from all over Greece. The Xanthi Film Club organises special film tributes throughout the year. On the initiative of the Progressive Association of Xanthi/ Filoproodi Enosi Xanthis (FEX), festivals of Eastern music are held in the summer, classical music in the spring and the Xanthi of Manos Hadjidakis festival in October. In early November, the Municipality of Xanthi and the Evrites Association of Xanthi organise a festival of children’s traditional dance groups. Finally, the Foundation of Thracian Art and Tradition regularly holds lectures, exhibitions, book presentations and seminars in the tobacco warehouses.
Festivals and celebrations in the wider region
Major musical and other cultural events are held in the wider region of Xanthi. In collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Xanthi, some are hosted at monuments such as the Türbe of Kütüklü Baba, the Pamouktsoglou Mansion in the village of Abdera, in the courtyard of the Archaeological Museum, and the archaeological site of Abdera.
In Abdera, the Democritia festival is held during the feast-days of the churches of St Paraskeve and St Panteleimon at the end of July. Among the rich cultural events, the preparation of the traditional leavened bread of Gaia has a special place. The dough is kneaded by the women of the village in the pinakoti, a traditional wooden kneading trough with partitions, and the loaves are baked in the old village ovens.
Τhe Abdera region has been famous for its rich lands since antiquity. Today the local wineries produce excellent wines. In Abdera and villages such as Stavrochori, Lefkopetra and Nea Kessani, the traditional distillation of tsipouro (grape marc spirit) in October is accompanied by a great celebration.
Religious rituals
Kourbania (animal sacrifices) are among the most important expressions of popular cult. In the villages of Thrace, the sacrificial animal is offered by the faithful to the saints on their feast-day. The meat is cooked, blessed by the priest and shared out among the congregation. The most famous kourbania in the region are celebrated at the churches and chapels of Zoodochos Pege (the Virgin Fountain of Life), Saints George, Athanasios, Panteleimon, Paraskeve, Demetrios, Constantine and Helen, and the Prophet Elijah. Ritual sacrifices, as private and communal offerings, are also made by the Muslims of Thrace during the course of the year.
