Every village in Karpathos has its saint. Every saint has its day. And every saint's day has its panegyri — the patron saint festival that in small Greek villages is the most important event of the year, more so than New Year's and often more than Easter.
In Karpathos the panegyri is still celebrated as it was a century ago: outdoors, with live music, with food cooked the night before in enormous cauldrons, with wine that keeps going round without stopping.
The instrument of the festival is the lyra — not the Italian six-stringed one, but the Cretan-Karpathian lyra: a three-stringed instrument played upright on the leg, with a bow, accompanied by the laouto. The music it produces is something between Greek folk and Ottoman blues. You don't hear it anywhere else in the world with this same precision.
At the panegyri of Olympos you're not a tourist watching. You're a guest eating. The distinction matters.
The most famous panegyri in Karpathos is that of the Assumption of Mary, on 15 August, in Olympos. The women wear the traditional dress — black robes with gold embroidery, elaborate headdresses, ornaments handed down for generations. The music starts in the late afternoon and finishes when it finishes. No one keeps track of the hours.