Central Square, Glossa; Carnival

Last year Carnival was cancelled completely and the year before that the weather was so bad that festivities were held indoors. Before then I didn't even own a camera and so this year is the first time I have ever had an opportunity to show you what it is really all about.

It begins around 2pm at the bottom church (BVM beforehand) with a procession through the village up to the main church (the Assumption). An integral part of the procession is the “Trata” or fishing trawler which is best described as a pantomime boat. The boat is attended by a host of young males who play the part of “engine room”. On board is a small brazier which is constantly fed with rubber inner tubes to ensure as much acrid black smoke as possible. Some years there is also a rudimentary rocket launcher which is used to fire spare fruit (oranges) and vegetables (onions) high into the air before crashing back to earth causing a spectacular mess amid much hilarity. In previous years the procession has been known to go all the way down to Loutraki and back up again and one year it even included Elios, but I think that this year unnecessary delays were avoided and the procession took the most direct route possible given that the trata is pulled by a tractor and many of the streets in the village are staircases. It does stop periodically along the route for the purpose of setting off orange smoke distress flares, drinking, music and dancing. The tractor at the front of the procession carries the trata's sound system which plays traditional Greek dancing music.

Meanwhile, up in Central Square the barbecue is preparing countless pork souvlakis and the sound system there is playing international dance favourites (macarena, la bamba etc.) When the trata procession arrives and the two sound systems meet there is total cacophany with added air horns and extra smoke. After a short while the lads from the engine room park the boat up in a quiet corner out of the way, people are given cups of wine and souvlaki with bread and they mill about admiring each others costumes, some of which are hilarious.

There is some obvious pagan fertility tradition involved, lots of cross-dressing and some suggestive sausages and bananas. Even the trata is sporting flags made of skimpy metallic underwear.

This year's entertainment was a spoof TV Show involving men dressed as women performing solo dances which were then critiqued by a panel of judges. After the formal show is over Carnival continues with drinking and dancing for many more hours but this year we did not stay late.