A great Halloween fiesta will spread throughout the neighborhoods of Athens in the coming days.

The municipality’s Culture, Sports and Youth Organization organizes 80 events in 55 places in the citywith carnival routes, with traditional events, concerts, music, dance and theater performances and with a kouluma on Clean Monday on the Hill of Filopappos.

“Athens puts up its carnival decorations, earlier than ever, and invites us all, young and old, to take part in this frenzied carnival celebration. For 23 days every neighborhood of our city will be flooded with music, dance, song and cultural events”says the mayor of Athens Haris Doukas in his message and adds:

“Come have fun together, be kids again, revive traditional Halloween customs and create memories that will last for years to come».

Tsiknopepti with music and tradition

On Thursday, March 7, music and carnival tradition will flood Varvakeio Agora, Monastiraki Square and the surrounding streets. Tthe public will meet the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens in Varvakeio Agora at 11:30, while at 12:00 the Cultural Society of Orchestral Art BAKHAI will start its carnival route from Syntagma Square, representing the custom of the Ribbons of Naxos in Kotzia Square, to end up in Monastiraki Square, where the band Charisma and Isidoros Pateros will entertain the crowd with music and songs.

Little masquerades are rampant in the neighborhoods

Children will wear their colorful costumes in the squaresas well as in the cultural spaces of Athens, to have fun and participate in mock actions, through which they will come into contact with the Halloween tradition.

The Art Gallery, the Museum of Folk Art and Tradition “Angeliki Hatzimichalis”, the Plato Academy Digital Museum, the Libraries, the Creative Learning Centers and the Children’s Museum of Athens welcome children and the whole family to participate in educational and museum-pedagogical programs, workshops visual arts, constructions, music kinetics and fairy tale dramatization, theatrical games, etc., but also for music and dance events.

Carnival activities will also take place in the squares Gyzi, Plyta, Agios Georgios, Agios Dimitrios (Panormos) and Kolokynthos Swimming Pool, as well as in the Park of Mayor Dimitris Bey, while Thymarakia, Agios Pavlos, Nathanael squares and the pedestrian street at the junction of Gennai Kolokotroni and Matrozou streets are transformed into the scene of a party .

For the ultimate Halloween celebration, the established rendezvous of the little carnivalists in Zappeionis given on Sunday, March 17, where children will say goodbye to Halloween by going wild with music, dance, circus artists, games and many more surprises.

The aroma of tradition and carnival routes through the streets of the city

As a Greek celebration with roots in antiquity, the carnival has a traditional character and is distinguished by its rich etiquette in different regions of the country.

The municipality of Athens highlights the element of tradition and the carnival customs, bringing them to the neighborhoods. Throughout the carnival, cultural clubs will parade through the streets of the city, to present traditional dances and revive local carnival customs, spreading fun and joy.

The beginning will be made by the BAKHAI Cultural Society of Orchestral Art on Tsiknopeptis (7/3)which during its carnival route, will make a stop in Kotzia square to represent the custom of the Ribbons of Naxos.

The traditional events continue on Sunday 10/3with the Halloween sergiani in Plaka by the Zakynthian Union of Athens with chants and traditional dances of Zakynthos, a Halloween event in Plato Square with pranks from all over Greece and live traditional music from local cultural institutions and the Chorostasi in the streets of Plaka with merry-go-rounds, events, carnival dances and songs, accompanied by live music.

The Saturday 16/3the Association of Farmers of Lesbos “Agios Dimitrios” and the Cultural Association of Traditional Dances and Cultural Activities “O Molyvos”, promise another journey into the country’s Halloween tradition, with a route of the revival of “Patinada”, a local custom of Lesvos.

Finally, the Sunday 17/3the end of the Athenian Carnival will be celebrated with a large carnival procession in the center of the city, an action of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, carried out with the support of OPANDA, with animators, jugglers, Brazilian percussionists and other entertainers.

There will be no shortage of carnival routes from the neighborhoods of Athens this year, that flood the streets with fun and rhythm. On Saturday 10/3 there will be a carnival route of percussionists (Attica Square – Victoria Square) and the Forms of Expression will lure you to Botanikos in a Carnival like in the past, while on Sunday 16/3 the percussion group Bloco Swingueira (District Filopappou-Troon-Dorieon) – Merkouri Square) will be rousing with Brazilian rhythm and dance.

Concerts, music and dance events and theatrical performances

The Music Ensembles of the Municipality of Athens will dress up the carnival events in various parts of Athens with their music, throughout the carnival. The Philharmonic Orchestra will “walk” through the neighborhoods, the Big Band with Martha Moreleon will give a jazz tempo to the Halloween celebrations and the Greek Music Workshop with Dora Loizou and Manolis Skoulas will enhance the Halloween celebration with their melodies.

Also, this year’s rich carnival program is surrounded by concertsmusic and dance events and theatrical performances in various cultural venues such as: Arts Center (concert on 03/09), “Anna and Maria Kalouta” Multispace (theatrical performance on 03/09 and 10/3), Cultural Center “Melina” (music and dance event on 10/3), Olympia, Municipal Musical Theater “Maria Callas” (music theater performance written by George Vassiliadis on 10/3) and Municipal Market of Kypseli (music and dance event on 13/3).

Clean Monday on the Hill of Filopappos

The events will culminate on Clean Monday, March 18 at Filopappou Hillestablished as a landmark for kite flying and traditional Kouloumas, people will celebrate with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens and the band Charisma.