Image not available

Μετάφραση Greek Version

The Feast of Agios Ioannis

The Feast of Agios Ioannis in the village of Vroukounda in Karpathos. From Avlonas, Karpathos, begins a path from which, after a one and a half hour footpath, the pilgrim arrives at Agios Giannis the Baptist. Here, a large wooden tree trunk dominates the edge of the cape and gives its shade to the outdoor dining area. In specially shaped staggered terraces, the locals lay their trunks and spread their bedclothes as everyone gets asleep. A ladder carved on top of the cliff, at the edge of the cliff, twenty meters above the sea, leads to the cave where the little chapel of St. John the Baptist is built. The feast begins with the "sitting feast" and with the "wire" song with lyrics from the circle and from heroic songs and continues with mantinades in which the lyricist accompanies the singer and repeats lyrics strongly so that he does the same the entire group. Then starts the "bottom dance", a very slow dance that begins with the queen with a queen. His footsteps, slow down, two in front and one behind, do not attract attention at all, as the rotation around the central dining room lags long to finish. During the mantinades, dancers go up the track, men with their normal clothes and girls with their colorful local costumes, their head-dresses and their "queens" (the necklaces with the gold coins). They create a semicircle, stacked with their arms crossed and looking towards the gentlemen. Between the bottom dance of "sigan" and "top dance" is mediated by the "kneeling". The leader who led the dance, now has the ability to make his tits, jokes, improvisations and his figures. This system of dance is called "kavos" by the name of the first-born. The dancers, at the time of change, fly banknotes on the track. In the end, the pilgrims receive pieces of bread, according to custom, they are trapped with the traditional recipe, with honey and slices of watermelon. On the second day of the feast in Avlona, ​​in the village hall, the three-day celebration is completed. At the dance floor on a giant table, the chairs of the musicians are set up and the mercy chairs around. On the platform sit the dancers who expect to enter the dance. The last day of the festival is the day of the young people where girls under the age of ten are born with their good costumes. The company sings to locals, returnees, newcomers and "lovers" of young people who participated in the patinades. The most exciting moment of the feast is when the company goes out of the Cemetery, singing mantinades for those who left.