Feature: Greek city gears up for Sunday's Carnival climax

When carnival season comes, Greeks have their own equivalent of world-renowned Rio to take pride in. Patras, a port city 220 km west of Athens, is a place that lives for these three weeks of crazy celebrations.

Allegedly, it all started in 1832 when a wealthy merchant who was trading with Venice held a big masquerade ball in his villa, initiating his guests in the customs of the Venetian carnival. It was an instant hit that quickly became the talk-of-the-town.

However, it wasn't until 1910 that the first carnival parade took place, introducing a popular, public counterbalance to the secrecy of private bourgeois balls.

Greece boasts its very own carnival tradition, which has it roots in ancient rituals held to honor Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, theater and religious ecstasy.

The two traditions -- ancient Greek and Western -- blended together over the years to create the unique character of the carnival of Patras.

The Patras Carnival is the biggest in Greece and one of the biggest in Europe. It lasts approximately one month and includes a wide range of events, such as masquerade balls, parades, hidden treasure hunts and a children's carnival, all leading to the last weekend when there is a parade and the ritual burning of the Carnival King in the harbor.

For the last 50 years, the municipality of Patras has supported the carnival and undertakes a big part of its organization, by offering a considerable budget and workforce, as Nikolaos Chrysovitsanos, president of the municipal public benefit company "Patras Carnival," told Xinhua.

"The company starts its preparations around March or April the year before and we work on the carnival throughout the year," he added. The outcome is a wide range of events that transform the city into a huge scene of vibrant shows, balls, parades and street games.

In the municipality's carnival workshop, where the gigantic floats of the Carnival King and his entourage are built along with other structures, the city's employees work non-stop.

Despite radical cutbacks in the city's personnel, the remaining carpenters, smiths, sculptors and painters, who have been working on carnival floats their whole life, take pride in their creations.

Although the city's carnival budget has shrunk over the years as a result of the economic crisis, it still reaches 1.1 million euros (1.16 million U.S. dollars).

"For many citizens, especially in these harsh times when they don't have the money for expensive entertainment, we offer spectacle and amusement in the public space, where everyone can enjoy themselves," Chrysovitsanos noted.

The soul of the Patras carnival is in the tens of thousands of people who spontaneously participate and contribute with their ingenuity and inspiration. Residents of Patras take Carnival seriously and, regardless of their age or social status, they actively take part usually by joining a carnival group.

Dimitris Raptis, the leader of Carnival Group 39, has been participating in Carnival for 24 years and leading his group for 17 years. In the small workshop of his back yard, Raptis, along with three of his group members, makes costumes, masks, wings and other accessories for all 25 members of his group.

"The preparations span over a year, but the 'big fever' starts in October: we have to move fast, solve our technical issues, pick our colors and materials and see what fabrics we are going to use," Raptis explained.

The group is working with a dragon theme this year and the costumes consist of a full body armor in red, green and golden hues highlighted by accessories. In addition to the costumes, there are also 15 mobile dragon constructions, flags, and banners for the parade.

Showing Xinhua the room that functions as a workshop, he said: "This is a small room, but also a big one in a sense. It is where the full gear of our group is created and it becomes our kingdom for three to four months, a source of creativity, inspiration and artistic outlet," Raptis said referring to his workshop.

Carnival Group 86, on the other hand, is not a typical group of the Patras Carnival. It is among the biggest and most highly-viewed of the parade. The show it presents every year is eagerly anticipated and generally considered to have raised the bar of artistic expectations for every participating group.

"Our goal is to present a totally different kind of Carnival and integrate in our show the art of street theater," Paris Laliotis told Xinhua.

Laliotis and Alexis Georgiopoulos, the leaders of Group 86, have turned the backroom of an old apparel industry into a workshop that delivers an impressive amount and variety of costumes, accessories and other constructions.

This year, their theme is the Zodiac Cycle using plastic foam and water hoses. There are 100 costumes, two floats, 14 elaborate costumes for the members that will perform on the floats and 10 street constructions that make up the group's full gear for Sunday's parade.

Naturally, it takes a lot of hard work and following a strict timetable to make sure that everything is finished on time.

"We are talking about three months of full-time work, especially at night time. As the last week approaches, working hours increase, with 20 people working 24/7 in three different shifts. It is exhausting, but also extremely fun," Laliotis stressed.

Carnival is not only a time-consuming hobby, but also a very expensive one, as the budget needed for a group of a hundred people can reach 4,000 euros. Simple group members pay only a fraction of the price their costume costs.

"We try to tune in with these difficult times and keep the cost of the costume low, so that our members can afford to participate, without compromising on the artistic outcome," Georgiopoulos explained.

The leaders and the core members of each group are the ones to take on the biggest part of the expenses and the hard work.

"It brings us closer together, we have a common goal, we take on a project from zero and bring it to life and this is what unites us...There is magic in something so short-lived bringing people so close and offering them such memorable moments to share," Georgiopoulos commented. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollars) Endite