Greek village holds pagan ritual to scare away evil spirits at the new year
On the day of Epiphany, January 6, in a village nearby Thessaloniki, called Profitis (Prophet), the ancient custom of "Arapides" is performed to scare away evil spirits.
This Dionysian pagan ritual sees people of the village dressed in black goat's skin, wearing colourful long hats, and hanging large pastoral bells around their waists to scare away evil spirits that come out during the twelve days of Christmas to cause mischief.
Arapides means literally "black ones" because the protagonists dominated by black, with black goatskin costumes and impressive masks.
They perform loudly and dramatically to expel evil and bring an optimistic message of life at the start of new year. They gather at the town square, coming from all sides of the village.
Each one gets dressed up in his place and maybe find a couple more along the way before getting to the square, and then the dancing starts. Apart from the Arapides, there are many locals dressed in traditional dancing clothes.
When all of the Arapides have gathered, they move off to another place where they will be starting a parade. Traditional instrument players follow along and the party goes on with a lot of dancing, drinking wine and eating local delicacies, including souvlaki and grilled sausages.