Patras Carnival – The Largest and Craziest in Greece

 

 

Carnival season is here and if you’re lucky enough to be in Greece, head for Patras, home to the Patras Carnival.

Patras, a vibrant, lively city, the third largest in the country, located in western Greece, about a three-hour drive from Athens, is known for its busy port, connecting Greece with Italy and its university, the third largest in Greece.

Maybe the city is best known though for its impressive carnival, the ‘Patrino Karnavali’, the largest, and craziest in Greece and also one of the biggest carnivals of Europe.

 

 

The Patras carnival always begins on Saint Anthony’s Day, 17 January, and ends on Clean Monday, ‘Kathara Deutera’, the first day of Lent.

Most of the action however, occurs during the three weeks of Greek carnival, ‘Apokreas’, which officially begin ten weeks before Greek Orthodox Easter.

The Patras Carnival is not a one day event but more a series of parades, parties, balls and treasure hunts.

 It all  kicks off with the opening ceremony and comes to a crescendo on the last and wildest day of the carnival, three weeks later, with the carnival highlight, the burning of the carnival king and the closing ceremony.

 

Origins of the Patras Carnival

 

Although, in general, Greek carnival is connected with the decadent Dionysia, the original Greek Carnival, which took place thousands of years ago in ancient Greece, the Patras Carnival, thanks to the city’s proximity, has its 180 year old roots in Italy and was greatly influenced by the opulent Venetian Carnival.

The first event of the first ever Patras Carnival, a grand ball, took place, after the liberation of the Greeks, from the Ottomans, after the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), at the home of Moretis, a wealthy merchant of Patras, in 1829.

 

 

The first floats appeared in the 1870s, initially funded privately by citizens and eventually, years later, by the municipality of Patras.

In 1872, Ernst Ziller (A german architect, later a Greek national), built the Apollon Theatre in Saint George’s Square which became the main venue for balls and parties.

The Square still remains the heart of Patras’ carnival celebrations.

 

 

 In 1880 the most famous, and oldest tradition of the Patras Carnival, the ‘Bourboulia’ or ‘Boules’, emerged, (Venetian Carnival Costumes of St. Mark’s Square), giving women the opportunity to venture out in disguise and, for the first time in Greece,  unescorted!

Women were usually dressed in black and wearing a domino mask (a partial mask), again usually black but found today in a myriad of colours.

Men would dress in their normal clothes.

 

 

The egg war custom appeared in the early 1900s; wax eggs filled with confetti were hurled from balconies onto the crowds below, today, the wax eggs have been replaced with chocolates.

Owing to the many upheavals of Greece during the first half of the century, The Balkan wars, WWI, the Asia Minor catastrophe, WWII and the Greek Civil War, the Greek carnival was more or less abandoned, in fact, in 1950, the fear, was that carnival would never, ever be the same again.

But this is Greece and Greeks love to party, this crazy carnival time is not about to be allowed to die out!

They may be knocked down but Greeks come back with a vengeance, as happened with the Patras carnival, which now attracts the  world’s attention.

 

 

The carnival took off big time in 1974, when cars were banned during carnival time, people now paraded on foot through the streets and each year the crowds grew bigger.

Today around 400,000 people visit Patras during the carnival period, many take part in both official and unofficial events, parades, parties and masked balls, held in the streets, in bars, clubs, cafes, tavernas and restaurants and the motto is ‘Anything goes!’

 

Carnival Events

Opening Ceremony

 

The eagerly awaited  Patras Carnival is set into motion with the opening ceremony.

This takes place, regardless of when the Triodion falls, (start of carnival period), three weeks before Lent on Saint Anthony’s Day, January 17.

 

 

A town crier, today, usually a float, makes its way around the town, calling the citizens to gather in Saint George’s Square, where, from the balcony of the Apollon Theatre,  amongst much merriment, dancing, parties and fireworks, the Mayor declares the start of about ten weeks of complete and utter abandonment, a time to party like only a Greek knows how!

 

Children’s carnival

 

A week before the grand finale, the last weekend of the Patras Carnival, floats with fairytale themes, accompanied by thousands of children of all ages, adorned in colourful, whimsical costumes, in groups organised by schools, nurseries and clubs, parade through the town, dancing to music, and waving cheerfully to watching bystanders.

 

 

The children are kept in check by parents and teachers who have spent hours preparing for their little one’s big day.

A children’s carnival town, created from large colourful structures, resides in Ipsilon Alion Square, for the duration of the carnival.

 

The Treasure Hunt

 

The treasure hunt of Patras Carnival is a relatively new event created for the first time in 1966.

Groups of any number, large or small, are assigned a name and a theme for their costumes.

The participants are then given the choice of whether they take part in the treasure hunt, the parades, or both.

 

 

The treasure hunt tests skills of navigation, artistic talent, general knowledge.

There are plenty of riddles and quizzes, you never know what the organiser of this event are going to come up with next.

The Treasure Hunt is carried out through the three weeks of carnival, the groups accumulating points as they go along.

 

Saturday Night Parade

 

 The Saturday night Parade,  ‘Nchterini Podarati’ (Night Parade on foot), is held on the last weekend of carnival, on the eve of grande finale, the third and last Sunday of jollies.

It takes places on Corinthou Street,  starting from the corner of  Corinthou and Papaflessa street, crosses King George Square and finishes on the corner of Korinthou and Kolokotroni Street.

 

The Grand Parade

 

You would think that after three week of wild partying, spirits were now flagging but no, on the last Sunday of the Patras Carnival, the grand finale;  the climax, it’s as if the whole city just got its second wind and things are crazier than ever.

Starting from around two PM, floats, groups of merrymakers and bands,  take hours to parade around the town.

The number of people taking part is amazing, there is a seemingly endless streamof groups,  hundreds watching and cheering from balconies and more clogging the street.

For those who can’t make it to Patras the whole thing is televised and shown live on TV all over Greece.

 

 

Over 400,000 people can be expected to visit Patras, as participants, or as spectators, through the Patras Carnival period.

The Grand Parade takes place along Corinthou Street, the city’s longest street (5 km).

Highlights include chariots of the King and Queen of Carnival as well as the many floats built by artisans, working at the Carnival Workshop of the City of Patras.

The float of the traditional “Chocolate War” and two  municipal orchestras of Patras are also sights to watch out for.

 

The Closing Ceremony and traditional burning of the Carnival king

 

The closing ceremony, the  wind up to the past exhausting, but eventful weeks of Patras carnival, takes place at St. Nikolaos Street wharf, the central quay of the Patras harbour.

After yet more dancing, fireworks and the announcement of the winners of the treasure hunt, the Carnival King bids farewell to his subjects before he and his float are set alight in the harbour.

 

 

The Mayor declares the carnival’s end and announces the theme of next year’s carnival.

Festivities are officially meant to end at midnight, as it is now the first day of Lent, Clean Monday (Kathera Deutera) but through experience, I know this does not happen!

All over Greece the partying continues until dawn and fasting usually doesn’t  commences until after coffee and breakfast in coffee shops and cafes at around six or seven in the morning.

The Patras Carnival gives other well-known European carnivals a run for their money; it’s an unforgettable experience of a lifetime and well worth a trip to Patras.

If possible do try to make it at least once.