Greece Holidays And Festivals

Greece celebrates a host of religious and political holidays throughout the year. Major celebrations include the following:

Date	Name And Location	Description
January 1	Feast of St. Basil/New Year’s Day	Commemorates the new year. Greeks traditionally cut a sweet bread (vassilopita) baked with a lucky coin inside.
January 6	Epiphany	Celebrates Jesus’s baptism.
January 8	Gynecocracy, Thrace	Switches gender roles in Thracian villages; women sit in cafes and men do housework. Literally means “rule of women.”
Late January or Early February	Carnival	Three weeks of feasting and dancing that precede Lenten fasting. Patras, Skyros, and Kephalonia host the best celebrations.
Early March	Clean Monday	Starts Lent (fasting period of about 40 days before Easter).
March 25	Greek Independence Day/Feast of the Annunciation	Commemorates the 1821 struggle against the Ottoman Empire and celebrates Archangel Gabriel’s visit to Mary.
Late April or early May	Easter	Celebrates Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. The single holiest day in the Greek calendar is marked by countless traditions and all-day celebrations.
Late April or early May	St. George’s Day	Honors the dragon-slaying knight with rowdy festivals.
May 1	Labor Day	Celebrates workers.
Early June	Ascension	Commemorates Jesus’s ascension into heaven. Celebrated 40 days after Easter with different rituals in each region.
Mid June	Pentecost	The day of the Holy Spirit, celebrated 50 days after Easter.
August 15	Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary	Honors Mary’s ascent into heaven. Village and city celebrations abound.
September 8	The Virgin Mary’s Birthday	Celebrates Mary’s birthday; some villages finance a feast by auctioning off the honor of carrying the Virgin’s icon.
October 26	Feast of St. Demetrius	Observed along with the opening of a new stock of wine. Celebrated enthusiastically in Thessaloniki.
October 28	Ohi Day	Commemorates Metaxas’s supposed response of “€ci!” (OH-hee; “No!”) to Mussolini’s demand to occupy Greece in October of 1940
December 25	Christmas	Remembers Jesus’s birth. Greeks celebrate both Christmas Eve and Christmas day, when children make the rounds singing kalanda (carols).