Paros Pirate Festival 23rd of August

Everyone is aware of the "Pirates of the Caribbean", but how many have even heard of the "Pirates of the Aegean"? Well, all you need to do is get your tickets booked and head to the picturesque island of Paros. It is always advisable to coincide your trip to Paros at the time of the colorful Barbarossa Pirate Festival, which is held every year on the 23rd of August.

This unique festival is a classic case of re-acting of the entire episode of an infamous pirate attack on the island of Paros, which is rather skillfully represented by the enthusiastic locals. There is tons of fun and one can be assured of hilarious and   chilling scenes during this unique Pirate Festival.

Unbelievably, the quaint fishing vessels who play a pivotal role in the Festival, act in the guise of pirate ships and energetic locals, particularly the youths of Paros undertake the roles of pirates, protectors and believe it or not - dancing damsels in anguish. A lot of times the casualty of Greek pirates surprisingly used to be a Greek island itself, which may sound odd, but is very true.

The island of Paros in particularly was witness to wave after wave of pirate attacks. As a ploy to rebuff the pirates, the people of Paros built impregnable “Skiathos” which were nothing but traditional Greek fortresses principally meant to ward off pirate attacks. But even these unconquerable “Skiathos” weren’t able to withstand the fierce attacks of the heavily-armed pirates.

The islands of Greece in general and Paros in particular has a long history of pirate attacks. According to a popular Greek legend, heavily armed pirates once kidnapped a beautiful Pelekas bride on the day of her wedding. This act of cruelty so shocked the bride’s mother that she cursed the pirates and as per legend they all were turned into stones, including her daughter who was taken into captivity, due primarily to some inappropriate use of words that were uttered in the curse.

Posted by Under The Black Flag on 2:37 π.μ.. Filed under news, Paros, Pirate Festival . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0