Εκδηλώσεις (15)
One of the most beautiful traditional festivals of our country is the unique celebration of Agios Simios (Ai Simios). The Monastery of Agios Simios celebrates twice a year, on February 2nd and on the weekend of the Holy Spirit (movable festival, usually in June).
Every year, during the three-day holiday for the Holy Spirit, the town of Messolonghi is turned into a special festival. The whole center of the town is filled with traditional music and from Friday morning the locals start eating, drinking and dancing. Also horse riders, from all over the prefecture, with their horses come to participate in the festival, always under the sounds of tabors and flutes.
The revival of the heroic sortie takes place annually in the presence of representatives from foreign states as well as prominent representatives of literature and art from both Greece and abroad.
Messolonghi proudly welcomes the political and state leadership of the country, together with the arrival of the President of the Greek Republic. At the same time, the Sacred City welcomes many visitors who come as pilgrims so as to honor the greatness of this annual “funeral”.
The festivities culminate one week before Easter, in the procession of the Holy Icon of the Exodus, from Saint Spiridon to the Garden of the Heroes, accompanied by thousands of young men and women from all over Greece. On Saturday night, after the slow- paced night parade and a memorial service, the blasting reconstruction of the hero Christos Kapsalis with the participation of the Messolonghi choir takes place.
Every year, the feast of Ai Giannis in Evinochori (Bohori) is conducted on June 23rd and 24th, on the Eve and Day of the Beheading of John the Baptist, or else called, Ioannis Prodromos of Riganas.
The feast of Ai Giannis has its roots in the Ottoman period, and particularly in the period of “klephtes and armatoloi", the main armed forces against the oppressor. During the Turkish occupation, the chapel of Ai Giannis played a major role for the region and is connected with the Siege of Messolonghi. It was located at the foot of Arakynthos, where Ancient Calydon is today, in an area that connected Bohori with Messolonghi and the wider region.