carnival Gergeri Crete 2013

Traditional Cretan carnival in Gergeri, Crete: the Cretan village Gergeri is close to Kato Zaros, high in the Cretan mountains. This village celebrates every year "Clean Monday" with a traditional carnival parade. This celebration is called "sarakosti", which means Ash Monday or White Monday. On this day start the 7 weeks before Easter, when nobody eats meat or dairy products. During this celebration everyone eats fish, shellfish and salads. This Cretan carnival parade is very traditional: the villagers are dressed like sheep, complete with sheepskin and sheep bells. The "sheep" are guided by the sheep shepherd. The main street of the village is closed for traffic. In the local taverns and kafenions the tables are full with wine, raki and traditional dishes. We celebrated our
sarakosti in "To Koupouri": a nice local ouzeri in the main street of Gergeri. The party starts every year at 12.00 o'clock. But we advise you to come earlier to the village. We started at 10.00 o'clock in the morning. At the village square they played fantastic Cretan live music with lira, mandolin and louta. Everybody is dancing to celebrate Clean Monday!
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