Carnival events at Kissamos

Carnival poster

Kissamos Carnival events are already under way, with a costume party for young and old held on Saturday evening in Tzanagaki, Katraki and Venizelou squares.

Today, Sunday 17th March, the main parade with carnival teams and their floats along Skalidi Street starts at 3.00 pm. The presenter will be Giorgos Georgilakis, with DJs Nikos Katsikandarakis (Nicholas Vibes) and Giorgos Violakis. There will be live music by the Freak Tones in Tzanagaki Square and the town’s shops will be in party mood.

Carnival recruitment posters
Some of the recruitment posters issued by the Carnival teams. Source: Facebook.

On Clean Monday, 18th March, there will be a koulouma – the traditional outing to the countryside – at Trachilos beach (just past the port of Kavonisi), with kite-flying, Lenten dishes and a traditional Cretan glenti. Music will be provided by Giannis Menegakis, violin, Giorgos Skounakis and Giannis Giakoumakis, lutes, and Grigoris Atsalakis, bass. There will be dancing by the “Kissamos” Cretan Dance Association and the Dance School of Giannis and Haris Kounis.

The events are organised by the Municipality of Kissamos in collaboration with the Gramvousa Cultural Association.

Clean Monday
Clean Monday – Kathara Deftera in Greek – is the first day of the 40-day fast of Lent. It is traditionally spent in the open air, with families flying kites and bringing picnics of Lenten food including shellfish, octopus, beans, taramosalata, dolmades, lagana (a kind of unleavened bread), and halva. For the remaining period those observing the fast may not eat any meat, poultry, fish, dairy products or oil.

Kite-flying, apart from being a healthy open-air occupation for all the family, is believed to symbolise the Resurrection. The origins of kite-flying lie in China, where the first kites are claimed to have been constructed by the 5th century BC philosophers Mozi and Luban. Ancient and medieval Chinese sources describe kites being used for measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signalling, and communication for military operations.

Kites also seem to have been known in Ancient Greece. In the 4th century BC, the Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum, credited as the founder of the science of mechanics, is said to have used a kite in his early experiments with aeronautics, while there are representations on vases of the period of a young girl about to fly some kind of kite which she is holding on a string.