The city of history, spirit, arts, and letters, once again activates all of its creative forces and invites all of Greece to have fun at the Carnival of Crete, the great Rethymno Carnival, which for 2025 proposes a unique program of events.
The program of the Rethymno Carnival 2025 was presented at noon on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at the city’s City Hall.
The Mayor Mr. Giorgis Ch. Marinakis, expressing his warm thanks to all those who worked on the preparation of this year’s program and are preparing the great event, invited everyone to participate in the events, saying “We are ready for another great carnival, the Carnival of Crete, the Rethymno Carnival of 2025” and continued, emphasizing that “I have seen how zealously so many people have worked for our carnival. Our carnivals, their representatives, the Department of Culture, the deputy mayor, all together have composed an excellent working team and I think the result will be excellent”.
He noted: “This year’s event has been enriched with so many events. Once again, our carnival sends out messages of sensitivity, and environmental awareness and is a mass movement that embraces all Rethymno residents.”
He then pointed out: “Our carnival is the most classless event that takes place in our country. Everyone has the same rights, everyone has a share in the joy and fun and it is a result that is due to the collective effort of many people.
The Rethymno Carnival without its soul, which is the carnival participants, could not be so rich, nor so big, nor so successful.
Our Municipality once again tried to do its best and I am glad that the messages coming from society are also very pleasant.
More and more people are realizing that the Rethymno Carnival is a matter for all of us and is not a field of confrontation or individual pursuits.
I wish our carnival success, I hope that all these rich events will be well received by the public, that our people will really let loose, let it all out, feel a little better and feel that together we can achieve the best possible result.”
COME INTO THE LIGHT!
As the Deputy Mayor for Culture, Mr. Manos Tsakonas, emphasized, presenting the program of this year’s carnival, 2025 is a year where for the first time the Rethymno Carnival aims for two three-day and two four-day events, inviting the visitors to choose between four different weeks a program with a strong element of entertainment and art.
Among other things, he stated “This year’s theme is entitled “Come into the Light”! The Rethymno Carnival invites us to escape the gray and black of everyday life, to spend unforgettable moments of carefree enjoyment of music, dance, theatrical events, exhibitions, and arts.”
The events
The first three days include a large Costume Exhibition with this year’s costumes of all the groups, the presentation of the 2025 theme from which the Carnival queen will be chosen by voting via Instagram and the Opening Ceremony of the events to be declared by Mayor Giorgis Marinakis on the Sunday of the Beginning of the Triodion (09/02), with the participation of the Municipal Philharmonic and the established large concert with the well-known artist Lila.
The second three days are dedicated to the unique in inspiration Treasure Hunt that ends on the Sunday of Asotos (16/02) and which rightfully holds a place in the Guinness Book as the most crowded Hunt. This is a different game with knowledge of the history of the city being considered essential and the organizer being the winning team of the previous year. Last year’s winners and organizers this year are the “Indifferent-Incorruptible”.
The first four-day event is preceded by a night of cantada in the Old Town with tsikoudies and treats to complement the mandolins and accordions, as well as the Carnival League with basketball between the teams, which is being organized for the first time this year.
The first four-day event officially begins with the events of Tsiknopempti with outdoor parties and musical theater performances by the carnival groups and continues with a multimedia exhibition by the 11th Painting Workshop of the Athens School of Fine Arts. The Dance of the Groups follows on Saturday, where carnival groups present theatrical sketches and videos, and concludes on Shrove Sunday (23/02), which is dedicated to children, with the popular CarnivalRun, where young carnivalists run through the narrow streets of the Old Town to follow activities for children with a strong carnival element.
The second four-day event will begin on Friday. Another evening in the Old Town, again with cantatas, but this time with lyres and lutes. The culmination of the events will be, as every year, the two parades on Saturday, the children’s with a large musical theater performance awaiting the young carnivalists at the end, and the very popular night parade with self-illuminated floats, thousands of carnivalists and the participation of local musical artists at its end. On Cheese Sunday (02/03) the events culminate with the grand parade and the participation of 26 floats and 30 crews in total with approximately 12,000 carnivalists. A spectacular fireworks show on the beachfront will bid farewell to the great celebration.
The four-day event concludes on Clean Monday (03/03) with the offering of laganes and fasting foods in Gerani, a settlement just 10 kilometers away where visitors will be entertained with events and the traditional custom of the camel.
All events are listed in detail in the events calendar of the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Rethymno MoRE (MunicipalityofREthymno) as well as on the website of the Rethymno Carnival rethymnocarnival.gr
We can easily find them with the QR codes that since last year the Rethymno Carnival has chosen as a means of communication, eliminating almost 100% paper.
The sponsors of the Rethymno Carnival are the Region of Crete and year after year more and more city bodies, the Athenian Brewery with the MAMOS beer and the communication sponsor is KRITI TV.
The chairman of the seven-member Rethymno Carnival Committee is the Deputy Mayor for Culture of the Municipality of Rethymno, Manos Tsakonas, and the members are the Deputy Mayor of Old Town, Stelios Samson, and the leader of the major opposition, Rena Koutsaledaki, the president of the Rethymno Carnival Groups, Michalis Petrakakis, and the Council member, Kostas Fetokakis, and the carnival residents, Manousos Klados and Marios Papadakis.
The coordination of artistic events such as the Presentation of the Theme, the Opening Ceremony, and the Dance of the Groups, has been undertaken by Nikos Markantonis.
All events are coordinated by the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Rethymno, with the support and cooperation of Carnival Volunteers.
The Rethymno Carnival is funded by the Municipality of Rethymno.
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