Yakinthia Festival 2009

This year, the Yakinthia Festival will take place from July 24th to August 2nd and, for the first time since it was originally organized in 1998, the festival is dedicated to the Shepberds of the Mediterranean, with the participation of Cretan and foreign shepberds in a series of special events. As always, most events will be presented in the village of Anogeia, a small mountainous settlement of 2,500 permanent inhabitants, about 50 km south east of Rethymnon Crete. Shepberds from Portugal, Corsica France, Andalusia Spain, Turkey and Tuareg have been invited to join the festival and present their agricultural life, their shepberding techniques, dancing customs, cooking habitudes and generally details of their pastoral life. The original idea was to present a life and a profession that is gradually fading and to develop more the need to protect traditional ways in a society that is becoming more and more modern. All events will take place at the small theatre close to the stone church of Saint Yakinthos. Schedule Friday 24 July SHEPHERDS FROM ANOGIA 16:00 h: The sheep shearing 18:00 h: Cheesemaking - cooking of the shepherds of Anogia 20:00 h: The former mayor OF Anogeia, Giorgos Klados, opens this year's YAKINTHIA events. Speech titled "The role of the mother in the shepherds' family" 21:00 h: Presentation of the book "Lefteris and Irene" by Kostas Manouris 21:30 h: Music evening with Nikiforos Aerakis and Giorgos Vrentzos (Katis). Dance event with the shepherds of Anogia and well-known traditional dance groups Saturday 25 July SHEPHERDS FROM ANOGIA 18:00h: cheesemaking - cooking of the shepherds of Anogia 20:30h: Presentation of the book "Giannis Dramountanis-Stefanogiannis" (leader of the resistance in Anogia from 1941-1944) by George Kalogerakis 21:30h: Concert Evanthia Reboutsika, Panagiotis Kalantzopoulos and Elli Paspala Sunday 26 July SHEPHERDS FROM SPAIN 18:00h: Cheese production - the Spanish Shepherds cuisine 21:00h: Songs performed by the "SANADES" (7 female voices) 22:00h: Flamenco: Music, dances and songs of the Spaniards Monday 27 July SHEPHERDS FROM CORSICA (FRANCE) 18:00h: Cheesemaking - cooking the Corsican shepherds 20:30h: Presentation of the book "The devil danced in him" for the poet Nikos Kavadias 21:30h: Music, dances and songs of the Corsicans Tuesday 28 July SHEPHERDS FROM PORTUGAL 18:00h: Cheese production - the Portuguese Shepherds cuisine 20:30h: Documentary about the life of the shepherds in Portugal 21:30h: "The music of the universe and the initial light", speech and discussion with Giorgos Grammatikakis, former rector of the University of Crete 10:30 h: Sonia Theodoridou sings Portuguese "Fado" and songs of the Mediterranean Wednesday 29 July SHEPHERDS OF THE DESERT (Tuareg) 18:00h: cheese production and cooking with the shepherds of the desert 20:00h: Lecture by Anna Tziropoulou - Efstathiou (professor of philology) on "The shepherds at Homer" 21:00h: Music, dance and songs of the shepherds of the desert 22:30h: Concert with Psarantonis Thursday, 30 July TURKISH SHEPHERDS FROM AIVALI TURKEY 18:00h: Cheese production - the cuisine of the Turkish Shepherds 20:00h: Presentation of the latest book by Kostas Zouraris on "Makrygiannis" 21:30h: Music, dances and songs of the Turks Friday, 31 July 21:00h: Theater "The Gulf" 22:00h: Songs performed by Morfo Tsaireli, singing, and Iraklis Vavatsika, accordion Saturday 1 August 22:00h: Concert evening with Manolis Rassoulis and Orpheas Peridis Sunday 2 August 21:30h: The Yakinthia Festival hosted in the city of Heraklion. The Yakithia Festival 2009is formally closing on the beach of Karavolas, while shepheds of Anogia together with shepherds of the desert are showing cooking and cheese production to people of Heraklion. This event is followed by music and dancing performances as well as a concert with Vasilis Stavrakakis and traditional dancing by the group of Thanasis Mavrokostas.