The ancient tradition of fire-walking, known locally as Anastenaria, in northern Greece was featured in the New York Times.
On May 21, in the village of Lagadas, about half an hour outside Thessaloniki, the celebration of the feast day of Saints Constantine and Helen, includes the fire-walking ritual.
The Times visited the village in 2016 to meet the family and close friends of Anastasios Gaintatzis, “some of the last remaining participants” in the ritual. Gaintatzis, who was 85, at the time “is one of the oldest fire walkers in the country,” the Times reported, adding that “his family, who once lived in what is today the Bulgarian town of Kosti, in eastern Thrace, arrived in Lagadas in 1923.”
The people featured in the Times are “members of a club formed by the Gaintatzis family in 1994 to help perpetuate the local fire-walking traditions.”
Read more at thenationalherald.com
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: New York Times
