here are some customs which are special to Naxos and which genuinely continue to "live" today. Carnival - the "Bell-wearers"In the mountain villages, young men wear the so-called "abadelli"- a cloak with a hood- and have their faces covered with silk or muslin scarves to conceal their identity. They have a thick rope wound round their chest and waist from which hang rows of bells. In their right hand they hold a thick elder stick, called a "soba". The bell-wearers, running from house to house and leaping on to the roofs, make a diabolical noise with their bells.

hey also strike passers- by their "soba" and escort the "old woman"- a man dressed up as a woman who holds a distaff and a basket to receive the eggs which "she" collects from the houses which "she" visits with the bell-wearers. One of the group, dressed in sheeps skins and with a large goat bell ("bouka") hung round his neck, pretends to be a bear. There is also someone playing the part of his keeper, who leads the bear around and plays a drum for him to dance.

The 'klidonas': In the evening of 23 June the custom is to light the bonfires of St John and to burn thistles, from the ashes of which the next morning the girls will dicover who they are going to marry. On this day the young men and women must go to three wells to fetch the "silent water" and on their return pass a crossroad where three roads meet, three alleyways and three churches. They must then take the water home, mix it with equal quantities of flour and salt and cook and eat the resultant "salty pies". They will then have sweet dreams of one they love giving them water to drink.

Easter- the 'patouda': The great majority of Naxiots, at Easter prepare the paschal lamb with "patouda". Patouda is the stuffing for the lamb consisting of certain vegetables, lettuce, rice, eggs, currants, the offal of the lamb, large quantities of cheese and fennel- all of which imparts a unique aroma and taste.

The making of wine and raki: The harvesting and treading of the grapes is a festivity, an occasion for communication and high spirits. Less well-known than the grape harvest is the "hatzanemata", the work which follows the treading of the grapes and produces raki (also known as tsipouro).
When the treading of the grapes is finished, what is left the vat is not thrown away but put into a special vessel, the "harani", where it is boiled. The end product of this distillation process is raki.

Photos and text taken from "Naxos - Today and yesterday" (Toubis Editions)

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