Timeline Of Annual Events In Crete

The people of Crete, like most Greeks, are devout Christians, as a result of which many of their most popular holidays are religious ones. Crete’s most prominent events are its many Saints’ Feast Days and Name Days; virtually any given day is celebrated as a feast day. Processions, religious services, and feasting mark the more significant holidays.

But- Cretans being the fun-loving types they are, an event isn’t really an event unless there’s sufficient booze and music and wickedness; so to compensate for the religious events, there are plenty of cultural festivals. Come summer, and all across Crete are a series of festivals celebrating everything from wine, honey and tsikoudia (raki), to olives, music, and chestnuts. Among Crete’s most popular festivals are:

February:     Carnival

May         :    Cultural festival called Lato held in Aghios Nikolaos
                    Anniversary of the Battle of Crete; events in various towns and villages
                     National Festival of Crete at Hania; dancing, music and cultural performances
July     :        Heraklion Summer Festival Navy Week Theatre and dance festival at Axos
August  :        Summer Festivals at Krousonas and Temenous Cultural Festival at Agia Varvara
                      Cultural Festivals at Rethymno and Sitia Fisherman’s Festival in Rethymno
October:        The Feast of the Chestnuts, at Elos-Kissamos; dancing, singing and loads of roasted chestnuts
November:      The Feast of Tsikoudia (raki) at Voukolies-Kissamos; an
                       exhibition of agricultural produce, followed by much guzzling of raki and honey
December:       Christmas festivities: decorations, choral singing, theatrical productions and feasting