Carnival time on Rhodes is a long-established tradition that is celebrated in all the villages of the island, but especially in Rhodes Medieval Town.

The festivities culminate this year on Sunday, February 22, in the streets of the Medieval Town, with participants in outrageous costumes, street theatre, pantomime, jugglers, magicians, stilt walkers, comedie de l’Art and concerts covering all types of music (renaissance, Byzantine, Greek popular, international, traditional and island music).

The first day of Lent, which is called Clean Monday (this year on February 23), marks the culmination of the three weeks of the carnival season in Greece, known as Apokries.

Elsewhere on the island, groups of masqueraders called Kamouzèles make their appearance with loud sounds, joking and teasing the people. The locals celebrate the end of this period with music, funny improvised poems, wine and traditional street food.

The roots of Apokries customs can be traced back to antiquity, when the celebrations honoured the god Dionysus, the deity of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy and theatre.