The “Gaitanaki” as an event organized by the Ermioni Dance Group since February 2015. It is always held on the main roads of Ermioni and in the neighborhoods that still hold and promote the most traditional elements of our town, from morning to noon on Sunday of Carnival (a week before the three-day event). This Carnival extravaganza comes every year to fill the homes of housewives and the local catering businesses with spring, colorful, musical and dancing muskets. With the accompaniment of traditional musical instruments and the characteristic cheerfulness of the minor and adult members of our dance group who take part in the event and wear traditional costumes from all over Greece, it is inevitable that the people, who surround and embrace the event, in carnival costume or not, to be carried away into carnival dances that offer, through the dynamics of tradition, exultation and joy. The twelve ribbons on each of our Gaitanaki, which symbolize the twelve months of the year, offer rejuvenation and are always “ready” to ponder about the gloomy-looking winter and unwind the youth and vitality of spring. It is an event that year after year grows stronger, evolves, without leaving the boundaries of Greek tradition and is embraced more and more by locals and visitors as it is the most active and authentic carnival aspects of traditional Greek culture.
