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Open Daily 9:00am-19:00pm
Open Daily 9:00am-19:00pm
View all the upcoming feasts and festivals. Be part of them and enjoy the greek hospitality!
On the 23rd of July each year, the Greek Orthodox Church and Tinos, celebrates the holiday of Agia Pelagia. On the morning of that day, after the end of the service held in the Church of the Annunciation, the priests and the faithful accompany the Holy Icon to Eleftherias Square and from there the icon is taken to the convent of Kechrovouni by car. After the service that takes place in the monastery, the nuns treat their guests to coffee, traditional sweets and food.
Following the vesper, they all return to Tinos Town on foot which is a distance of eight kilometers. The Holy Icon is carried in the hands of the nuns and as the procession passes near chapels, they greet it by ringing their bells. When the procession arrives at Agia Paraskevi at the entrance to Tinos Chora, it is welcome by the bishop, priests and crowd. Along with the Philharmonic Band, it heads towards the port, before it eventually returns back to the Church of the Annunciation. The two-hour hike is full of colors and chants and definitely a unique experience for both pilgrims and guests.
Each year the island of Tinos welcomes thousands of pilgrims from across Greece and other Orthodox countries for the feast of the Virgin Mary on 15 August. For the Orthodox Church this day is ‘Virgin Mary Assumption Day’ where the Virgin is believed to have ascended to heaven. This is the most revered religious holiday in the Orthodox calendar after Easter. The annual celebration is a crowded affair, with a navy band and honor guard leading a procession carrying the icon down the hill from the church to the port and through the streets of Tinos. Thousands of people who have flocked to the Aegean Island for this day, kneel and wait for the icon to pass over them. So, if you find yourself in Tinos that day, you will witness and perhaps participate, in one of the most significant rituals in Greece.
