What are some Ancient Greek celebrations?

Festivals played an important part in Greek religion. Athletic contests along with dramas, sacrifices, and prayers attracted persons from a wide area, and these festivals served as a bond for the politically divided city-states. Among the most prominent of these festivals were the Olympic Games (at Olympia), the Isthmian Games (held near Corinth), the Pythian Games (at Delphi), and the Nemean Games (near Nemea). The celebration of the Olympic Games every four years provided the basis for the Greek Era reckoning, each four-year period being called an Olympiad.

Greek “firewalkers” celebrating the Greek Orthodox holiday of Saints Helen and Constantine. After embracing images of the two “saints,” the fire walkers are said to go into a “trance-like state.” This custom began in the 13th century when fire burned through a Bulgarian village, including a church dedicated to the two “saints.” When some men allegedly heard the images “groan,” they braved the fire to rescue them and supposedly came out unburned.
Greek Orthodox authorities brand the custom as “idolatrous” and “pagan.”
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