Greeks Celebrate Saint George’s Day in Style at Arachova

[Pelican Press 0]

Greeks Celebrate Saint George’s Day in Style at Arachova

Men wearing traditional attire get ready to celebrate Saint George in Arachova. Credit: Greek Reporter

The celebration of Saint George on May 6th is one of the most important feasts in Greece and at Arachova in particular where the saint is the town’s patron.

For days this town in central Greece prepared for a local festival or paniyiri which has its roots in Byzantine times. The tradition that survived the Ottoman occupation draws thousands of visitors every year.

Credit: Greek Reporter

Men and women dress in traditional clothes, they sing and dance and they also repeat the Easter tradition of roasting lambs on the streets of Arachova.

Credit: Greek Reporter

A procession carrying the saint’s icon parades around the village and winds uphill to the *******. Villagers dressed in colorful traditional clothing follow the icon procession while dancing troupes entertain the crowd.

Credit: Greek Reporter

Arachova, the winter Mykonos of Greece knows how to celebrate its patron saint.

Credit: Greek Reporter

Almost all Greek households have someone called Georgios or Georgia among close or distant relatives or friends.

Saint George was a Roman officer of Greek descent from Cappadocia

Very little is known about St George’s life, but it is thought he was a Roman officer of Greek descent from Cappadocia who was martyred in one of the pre-Constantinian persecutions.

There are two main versions of the legend, a Greek and a ****** version, which can both be traced to the fifth or sixth century.

In the Greek tradition, George was born to Greek ********** parents in Cappadocia. His father ***** for the ****** when George was only fourteen, and his mother returned with George to her homeland of Syria Palaestina.

A few years later, George’s mother *****. George then traveled to the capital, Nicomedia, and joined the Roman army.

George was persecuted for his ****** by a man called Dadianus. In later versions of the Greek legend, this name is rationalized as Diocletian, and George’s martyrdom is placed in the Diocletian persecution of 303 AD.

George was ********* by decapitation before Nicomedia’s city wall, on April 23, 303. A witness of his suffering convinced Empress Alexandra of Rome to become a **********, as well, so she joined George in martyrdom.

His body was returned to Lydda for burial, where Christians soon came to honor him as a great martyr, or hieromartyr—not only one who ***** for the ****** but whose heroic ****** leads others to convert to Christianity.

The ****** Passio Sancti Georgii (in the 6th century) follows the general course of the Greek legend, but Diocletian here becomes Dacian, Emperor of the Persians.

George lived and ***** in Melitene in Cappadocia. His martyrdom was greatly extended to more than twenty separate tortures over the course of seven years.

Over the course of his martyrdom, 40,900 pagans were converted to Christianity, including the empress Alexandra.

When George finally *****, the wicked Dacian was carried away in a whirlwind of *****. In later ****** versions, the persecutor is the Roman emperor Decius, or a Roman judge named Dacian serving under Diocletian.

 

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