Feast of Panagia

August is holiday month in Greece. On August the 15th Orthodox Greeks celebrate ‘Panagia’ - which marks the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. This is an extremely important religious festival and is also a national holiday. Traditionally it is also the time when many Greeks take their summer break, so expect Rethymnon to be particularly busy during this period. Ferry tickets and rooms are often booked up months in advance and beaches will be crowded. You have been warned!

August is also the month of the Panigiri — village festivals that celebrate local saints. A Panigiri is a lively affair, with food and drink and music and dancing. Many villages have churches dedicated to Maria, so their Panigiri will fall on Panagia (!), the three day festival at Mikri Gonia is one of the better known celebrations in the area. However, there are many other Saint Days that are celebrated this month, so you should be able to find a Panigiri somewhere on Crete on most days! Many villages organise ‘mini-festivals’ with artistic, cultural and musical activities. For example, the village of Anogia will be hosting its annual Yakinthia Festival until the 3rd August, and the village of Gerani has been organizing Cretan dancing displays in the evenings.

The Renaissance Festival is now over, and the Summer Arts Festival has begun. There is a jam packed programme of art, music and theatre, with something going on practically every evening. You will find programme details on our Out and About Page. Some of the events are free, too, which is an added bonus!

Events in Rethymnon tend to be publicized at the last minute, so keep your eyes open for posters around town and keep checking the www.rethymnon.biz website for updates. A welcome addition to town this summer has been the publicity stands like the one pictured in our photo.

If you know of an event you would like to see publicized, get in touch with Kate Brusten at the Bugle. You will find Bugle contact details at the bottom of this page.

Photographic Exhibitions

26/07—16/08 Cultural Association of Atsipopoulo, Rethymnon. "Nikos Kazantzakis meets Domeniko Theotokopoulo" - a photo exhibition with works by Manolis Metzakis and Efi Psilaki on the shooting of the film "El Greco" by Yiannis Smaragdis. Daily from 18.00-22.00.

02/08—12/08 St Francis Hall, Rethymnon. Photo exhibition with works by Constantinos Andronis. Daily from 11.00-14.00 and 18.00-23.00 - Free Entrance.

04/08-11/08/2008 Centre for Mental Health - Rethymnon. Photo exhibition "Asylum Experiences". Open daily from 18.00-21.00. Free Entrance. Address: Dimokratias 24, Rethymnon - Tel: 28310 20799.

For details of exhibitions that form part of the Summer Arts Festival, please see the following page

Calling all Gardening Enthusiasts!

A new club called the Cretan Gardener is in the process of being set up. The club is designed for those who are interested in gardening and environmental issues in general. Current plans include holding monthly meetings and question and answer sessions, production of a newsletter, organizing outings to parks and nature reserves, seed and plant exchanges and participation in initiatives such as the World Seed Bank project. The meetings will be held in Rethymnon. Anyone interested should contact Mike or Denise on the contact numbers below:

Telephone: Michael Bowe 6947603293, Denise Summers 6949213645

About the Bugle

The Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle is an independent publication brought to you by the same team responsible for the www.rethymnon.biz website. Hard copies of the Bugle are distributed in a variety of locations around town. These include: SVEA’s Swedish Coffee Shop (CIC Coffee Morning, first Thursday of each month), NewsStand (Square of Unknown Soldier), Camping Elizabeth (Misiria), Satellite Tourist Services (Sof Venizelou 21, by the Marina), Tapas y Vinos (Melissinou 14), Chryssafenia’s Nature House (Messologiou 9) Odysseas the Cyclist (A Velouhioti 31), Second Hand Shop ‘Magpie’s Nest’ (Siphi Vlastou 28), Galero Bar (Rimondi Fountain), Mediterraneo Bookstore (Paleologou), Nikos Siragas, Wood Art ( Petalioti 2), Octopus (Tsouderon 13) and Cretanagora Property Sales in Spili.

We welcome contributions and feedback. However, we do ask that submitted feature articles are no longer than 500 words. To contact The Bugle, phone Kate on 28310 54594 / 6942635515, Email editor@rethymonnnews.com / KateBrusten@hotmail.com – the deadline for the next issue is 25/08/2008.