Traveler's Guide

East Macedonia & Thrace

The custom of Arapides in Nikissiani

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On the day of the Epiphany in Nikissiani of Kavala in Municipality of Paggeo performed a ritual known as "Arapides", in disguise because the protagonists dominated by black, with black coats and impressive masks, costumes from sheeps. All teams of "Arapides" "make joint parade in the streets, under the deafening sounds of their bells in order their sound to chase away evil spirits. Two group leaders struggle until the final fall of one. Then, around the fallen leader, they all gather in a ritual which ends with the resurrection of the dead and the peculiar frantic dance of all that follows. According to tradition, the show symbolizes the death of Dionysus by the Titans and his resurrection from Zeus and in parallel the hibernating of nature which is winter and then the resurrection of nature with the coming spring.
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  • 02_03_BG
  • 02_03_BG
  • 02_03_GR