Panagias

On Aug 15 was the celebration of Panagias. It's a big day on Paros and tons of people head to Paroikia for the celebration in the evening. We all went down: Tony's parent's Linda and Markos and Tony's sister Sophia and Silas. It started with a parade of military and people in traditional costume with music playing. And they brought out a big image of Mary (below) from the church and paraded all around Paroikia and back to the main church again.



Here are some shots around the port of Paroikia (this is where most of the ferries come in from other islands and the mainland). The 4th pic is Markos and Linda.



Before the parade was over Sophia, Silas, Linda, and I headed to the fishing boats. We got on one of them so we could have a good view of the fireworks later in the night. The boat was full of people and it headed out into the harbor where we had free wine, watched the fireworks, and some people lit flares. Below: Silas and Sophia, fireworks, and me on the boat.



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