1. New Year: According to the cultural traditions left by the Byzantine Empire, Greeks bake a special New Year bread on this day, hiding a coin inside. The person who receives the piece of bread with the coin will be considered the luckiest person of the year.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: January 1
2. Independence Day: Commemorates the uprising against the Ottoman Empire's rule in Turkey in 1821.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: March 25
3. Good Friday: A religious holiday in the Greek Orthodox Church, where people participate in parades holding candles, circling around towns and churches.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: April 9
4. Easter: For Greeks, this is the most sacred day of the year. The date varies each year, falling on the first Sunday after the full moon following March 21; if the full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter is celebrated the following Sunday. The festival features grand parades, with people holding candles and singing hymns, filling the streets. Celebrations include midnight mass, a feast of roasted lamb, dyeing boiled eggs red, and of course, a dance party after the feast.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: March 21
5. Labor Day and Flower Festival: People hang wreaths at their doorsteps.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: May 1
6. Pentecost: Different regions celebrate this religious holiday with various traditional customs.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: June 8
7. Assumption of Mary: Celebrates the ascension of the Virgin Mary to heaven, with particularly grand celebrations in Tinos.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: August 15
8. Feast of the Virgin Mary: In some small villages, villagers bid for the right to carry the statue of the Virgin Mary, with the highest bidder funding the feast after the celebration.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: September 8
9. Christmas: Children in Greece gather in circles to sing Christmas carols.
Location: Nationwide
Festival Date: December 24-25