22/06/2019
20:30

Event Venue

Mitilinii village

GPS: 37.727189698654, 26.908368449386

  • Event description

The “Cultural Association of Mitilinii” organizes a feast for to celebrate Ai Giannis (St. John) Klidonas, at  Mitilinii village on Saturday, June 22 at 8:30 pm

The feast includes a representation of the custom, traditional dances from the parts of the club, live music from Kostas Mitsos’s group.

  • About The custom of “Klidonas”

The 24st of June is one of the biggest summer festivals of Greek tradition, since the feast of St. John the “Klidonas” is accompanied by the traditional custom of burning the flower wreaths of May and passing over the fires.

The nickname “Klidonas” comes from the ancient Greek word “κλήδων” (klidon), meaning “the predictor sound” and was used to describe the combination of random and incoherent words during a divination ceremony.

Essentially “Klidonas” is associated with a folk, divination process, which is said to reveal to the unmarried girls the identity of their future husband.
According to custom, on the eve of St. John’s celebration, the single girls are gathered in one of the houses of the village and one of them goes to the well to bring the “silent water”. It is called that way because she must speak to no one of the way to and back from the well.

At home they pour the water into a clay pot in which each girl throws a personal object, called “rizikari” (coming from the word “riziko” which means destiny). Then and then they cover up the pot with a red cloth and tie it up while praying in St. John. Afterwards they place the pot in open space, where it stays overnight. On that same night, Is said that the girls will see in their dreams their future spouse.

Meanwhile, on the eve of Saint John celebration also revives the well-known custom with fires: At the village square they light a big fire where everybody burns the flower wreaths they made on Mayday, and over which all the villagers jamb. According to the tradition, the fire brings catharsis and people are exempted from evil.

  • Event Organizer

Cultural Association of Mitilinii

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Fees & Tickets
General admission
Free