Folklore
The village celebrates the Feast of Agia Paraskevi, on the 26th of July, with a local festival.
Near the village lies Gyftokampos, a place of an annual meeting of the Greek-speaking Epirotan Vlachs Sarakatsani on the first weekend of August. It is also an exhibition ground every year, from May till October, with huts and other representations of the traditional life of the Sarakatsani.
A custom surviving until recently in some villages in the area was a divination referred to as the "amileto nero" (unbespoken water). It involved an offering of water and grain by adolescent girls, relating to an ancient Demetriac festival of the month of Gamelion. Reputedly, the springwater mourmoured an omen, usually relating to the girl's future marital life.
According to Odysseas Frangoulis, St Cosmas (Kosmas Aitolos or Cosmas of Aetolia) preached in Skamneli outside the monastery of Agios Nikolaos. He prophesied "when you see here many horses gathered, the Romioi are coming". When the village was burnt in 1912 by the retreating Turks, they had left their horses outside the monastery.
Read more about this topic: Skamneli
Famous quotes containing the word folklore:
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—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Someday soon, we hope that all middle and high school will have required courses in child rearing for girls and boys to help prepare them for one of the most important and rewarding tasks of their adulthood: being a parent. Most of us become parents in our lifetime and it is not acceptable for young people to be steeped in ignorance or questionable folklore when they begin their critical journey as mothers and fathers.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)