24/6
2025

Feast of the Monastery of St. John the Forerunner (June 24)
One of the largest feasts in Skopelos. After the service, food is served.
24/6
2025
One of the largest feasts in Skopelos. After the service, food is served.
25/2
2025
The most prominent feast of Skopelos, as it honors the memory of its patron saint, St. Reginos. On the feast day, after the service, loukoumia are served to the public.
01/3
2025
The carnival events, rooted in antiquity and the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, are popular and beloved throughout Greece. On Skopelos, an island closely associated with Dionysus, wine, and viti culture, these events are particularly varied and intense.
The Trata
A "seafaring" carnival event with a strong Dionysian element inspired by the tradition of Skopelitan shipbuilding and navigation. It symbolizes the return of expatriate ship wrights and sailors who came back to the island to celebrate Carnival with their families.
The Trata is a rudimentary, mock boat made of reeds and wood. The revelers, the crew of the Trata, wear old and comical clothes and impersonate sailors, engineers, cooks, shipbuilders, and priests. The most significant figure is the "captainess," a man dressed as a woman.
Participants carry the Trata they made themselves and parade through all the neighborhoods and alleys of the island, stopping to sing vulgar carnival songs and enjoy carnival treats and wine offered by the ladies of the house. At each stop, the "crew" takes attendance and performs funny acts, entertaining the onlookers. The Trata ends at the port of Skopelos, where the boat and crew, reeling with drunkenness, dive into the shallow waters.
The event takes place on the second to last Sunday of the Carnival. The Skopelos Cultural Association organizes it.
The Koudounades
The oldest carnival custom on the island, dating back to the celebrations of the ancient Dionysia. The custom was adopted by Skopelitan shepherds, who had the appropriate materials for the disguise.
The Koudounades used to dress in "petsovraka," or goat or sheep skins with the animal's fur still attached. Their faces were smeared or covered with fierce masks to avoid recognition and instill fear. They wore goat skin and pigskin shoes or "podessies" (shepherds' sandals with straps) and carried a long shepherd's staff ("stravoleka") that they waved in the air, threatening anyone in their path.
The hide was belted with animal bells, which made a demonic noise as they ran and jumped. Any woman or child who encountered a Koudounas would run or hide, fearing an attack. The Koudounades would roam Chora, disturbing the night's quiet with the dreadful sound of the bells.
The event, which was revived on the island in 2019, takes place between the second to last Sunday and the last Sunday of Carnival.
The Kales
On Carnival Sunday, the Skopelites bid farewell to the Carnival with a large parade of revelers dressed in their "best" clothes, such as fustanellas, vrakes, sailor uniforms, "morka" (traditional Skopelos attire), skirts, any traditional costume they have, and old-fashioned "European" clothes.
They usually re-enact the "Vlachikos Gamos" (Shepherd's Wedding), a mock wedding procession with a humorous tone, where a man represents the bride and a woman the groom. Accompanied by local instruments, they pass through all the neighborhoods of Chora, stopping in every square to sing traditional Skopelitan songs (including "Ante na pame vlacha, ston pera kafene, na se trataro vlacha soumada kai argile..." which is only sung during the Carnival procession), dance, and be offered treats by the hostesses of each neighborhood.
Everyone participates in the event, regardless of age or gender. The festive and joyful celebration brings together all the island's residents and, of course, its visitors.