11 festivals on 10 islands, day by day. Movable feasts are computed for 2027.
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22–23 April
Pyli celebrates Agios Georgios with the island's traditional horse races: after the liturgy, riders from the village race bareback on the plain below Pyli, then there is a glendi with food and music on the square. If 23 April falls in Lent it moves to Easter Monday. Asfendiou has its own Agios Georgios the same day, with mezedes in the little forest.
22–23 April · Skyros Chora
St George is the patron of Skyros (the Venetians called it Isola San Giorgio) and his 10th-century monastery sits on the rock under the castle above the Chora. The feast on 23 April, moved to Easter Monday when it falls in Lent, is a liturgy and procession rather than a tavla panigiri, but it is the day the Chora dresses up. Steep climb; go up early and have coffee in the square afterwards.
23 April
On St George's morning shepherds drive thousands of sheep and goats down through the village lanes to the church of Agios Georgios Galatas, where the priest blesses the flocks; the animals are then milked on the spot and the milk (several tonnes of it) is handed out to everyone present. It is a real working custom, not a show, and it ends with raki and Cretan music in the kafeneia. Be there by 9 am, park at the edge of the village and walk in; if 23 April falls in Lent the feast moves to Easter Monday.
23 April
The port village is named for its church of St George, and on 23 April (or Easter Monday in Lent years) the liturgy is followed by a feast in the church courtyard with food and wine for everyone. The island's spring gathering, before the first tourists.
23 April · Pano Koufonisi (Chora)
St George is the island's protector: after the liturgy on 23 April (or Easter Monday if the date falls in Lent) the icon is taken round the island by caique with the fishing boats escorting it along the coast, the lanes are strewn with flowers, and the community serves boiled beef and patsas with drinks before the party moves to the tavernas. A rare chance to see Koufonisi as a working fishing island before the season.
23 April
Spartochori's church of Agios Georgios celebrates on 23 April (or Easter Monday when the 23rd falls in Lent), with liturgy and a procession of the icon through the whitewashed lanes above the port of Spilia, then coffee and sweets offered outside the church. Out of season, so it is locals only; a good excuse for a spring day-trip from Nydri.
23 April
The green valley village of Potamia keeps St George's day (23 April, or Easter Monday when the 23rd falls in Lent) with a liturgy and then free food and wine, music and dancing in the square. A spring feast with the island still empty of tourists.
23 April
On St George's day (or Easter Monday when 23 April falls in Lent) a liturgy is held at the chapel of Agios Georgios by the Koukounaries lagoon, the horses are blessed and then raced along the strip of land by the old carnagio, with separate heats for racehorses, working horses and donkeys. In the Chora the same days see the Kamara, the island's slow women's dance in heavy traditional dress, in the square of Agia Triada on Easter Monday and Tuesday. Spring, so accommodation is cheap; the races are informal and start late morning.
25 April
The longest of the litanies, commemorating the 1630 plague, takes the saint's body right around the old town on Palm Sunday morning with all eighteen or so philharmonic bands of the island playing; it is the start of Corfu's famous Easter week, which continues with the Holy Saturday litany and the pot-throwing. Come at 11am and stand near the Spianada to hear the bands cross.
26 April
Patmos's Easter is among the most spectacular in Greece — the monastery hosts the niptiras ceremony on Holy Thursday, with the abbot ritually washing 12 monks' feet. Pilgrims from across the Orthodox world.
29 April
Open-air ceremony in Chora's main square: the abbot of the Monastery of Saint John ritually washes the feet of 12 monks, reenacting Christ washing the disciples' feet. One of the few places in the Orthodox world where the rite is still performed publicly.
Dates are resolved for 2027: fixed saint's days as they fall, movable feasts computed from Orthodox Easter (2027: 2 May). Panigiria are usually held on the eve of the saint's day, and a village occasionally shifts one to the nearest weekend — where an entry says "confirm locally", the date comes from recent years' announcements rather than an official calendar. If you know better, the feedback button exists for exactly this.
