Gaitanaki

Every summer on July 26th, the village square fills with colour and music. The “Gaitanaki”, a nostalgic custom that was once performed during the Epiphany, is now celebrated on the feast day of Agia Paraskevi, when Eptachori welcomes summer visitors. Twelve colourful ribbons are attached to a wooden pole, around which six pairs of young dancers—the “ladies” and the “gentlemen”—weave and unweave the ribbons rhythmically, dancing in rhythm to the music of a waltz. The women wear the distinctive stofa (the traditional local costume), while the men don the fustanella, creating a truly unique spectacle. If you step a little back from the crowd, you can feel the melodic rhythm carry you to times when dancers, accompanied by clarinets, drums, and violins, moved from one neighbourhood to another, despite the cold weather.