If I had to point to a single day of the year to visit Karpathos, I'd say 15 August in Olympos. Not because the other days are any less beautiful — the island is extraordinary in every season — but because 15 August in Olympos is one of those rare cultural events that isn't built for tourists: it exists for its own sake, and tourists step into it because they want to, not because it was designed for them.
The feast of the Assumption of Mary — Dekapentavgoustos — is the most important in the Orthodox calendar after Easter and Christmas. In Olympos it takes on a unique form: the women of the village wear the traditional costumes, which in this village have remained exactly as they were a century ago. Black dresses with colourful embroidery, headscarves, gold ornaments around the neck that weigh hundreds of grams. It isn't a folklore costume: it's the Sunday best, worn out of respect for the day.
When the music of the lyra began, someone started to dance. Not in a circle as I'd expected. In a personal, inward way. As if they were praying with their feet.
The festival starts with morning mass in the village church and continues all day. The communal banquet — long tables outdoors, food brought by every family, wine poured without measure — goes on until evening. In the evening come the music, the dances, the improvised mandinades. At midnight it's all still going. Sometimes it ends at dawn.