| Ios has to offer a special touch to your holidays with its cultural activities and local festivals. Once a year, each one of the hundreds (360) of small churches scattered throughout the island hosts a festival on the nameday of its saint, and its countyard fills with life.
Such celebrations are not the conventional religious ones. In the evening before the feast, losts of free wine and meat, cooked over the fire, are offered to everybody.
All visitors are invited to join the islanders in the dancing and the general merrymaking, which doesn't stop until the morning.
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| The feast of St. John Prodromos |
The The most significant local feasts celebrated during summer are: On the 24th of June and on the 2nd of August, the feast of St. John Prodromos at the monastery of Pyrgos, on the highest spot of the island.
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On the 29th of August, St. John's is celebrated in two parts of the island, in Kalamos and Psathi. Each year on this date, hundreds of pilgrims attend vespers, taste the meat soup served in wooden dishes ("skoutelia") and dance to island music all night through.
In the morning, after Mass, a procession of the saint's icon takes place and the traditional bean soup is served to everybody.
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| Omiria |
The most important cultural event of the island are the "Omiria", in Homer's honour. Homer may have been born here, but most probably he lived here toward the end of his life.
The Omiria started in 1991 and each year, on the first two weekends of May, attract more and more people, locals and visitors, as well as official guests from all areas of social life. |
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