Paniyiri

The Agia Paraskevi paniyiri is late in July (the saint's day is July 26), so normally we miss the festivities.  There is a series of church services, including one where the icon is paraded around the neighborhood, like an English "beating of the bounds" ceremony where the parish boundaries are walked by the community and both community and the church boundaries are reinforced.  The ceremony was about an hour and a half and was very different from any US church service I've been to.

People wander in and out throughout the service. Doors stay open.

The service is broadcast outside, and people stand around facing the church listening. But they can't see anything that is happening inside.  Inside people are standing and milling about.  They can't see either, so this isn't as strange as it might seem. Everyone hears the priest's continual chant (there don't seem to be hymns, or call/response, just the priest's chants as he does what the ritual demands), but no one sees what he is doing.

Throughout people are standing in line to buy and light candles.  I assume this is for private prayers.

The service ended with the procession of the icon. A band lead the priest and icon around the neighborhood.  This was as much about community as it was religion in my opinion.

The band is warming up.

The procession of hundreds of neighbors following the icon.

Turning a corner and making a large circle, about 4 blocks.

There is also a street fair which seems to us to be entirely commercial.

At the top was food, but only dessert/carnival food.  Nothing that would be a meal, not even a hotdog.  It was loukoumades (fried dough with chocolate, honey or sugar, like donut holes... delicious and cooked in front of you), cotton candy, popcorn, and candy.  There were balloons and grilled corn.  The rest was junky plastic toys, electronics like phone chargers, and some clothes or shoes.  Nothing seemed to have any religious purpose or significance.

Phil already posted his thoughts about layers of participation.  It is a fascinating and very different religious expression.  To me it seemed to be something that could only happen in a country with a dominant (and official) religion.  Churches are neighborhood-focused and don't need to compete for congregants or parishioners, as churches are all part of one religious organization.  People don't need to demonstrate their religiosity the same way as there is no competition between sects, and less division between religious and secular.  Greek Orthodoxy seems also to be more individualistic in that people have their own icon corner in their house, can sanctify the graves of loved ones or roadside memorials as places for individual prayer.  Even the candle-lighting is individual rather than communal prayer.  The services seem more about the priest performing his individual duties and the community gathering as a community to observe, having already made their private prayers (or not).  Altogether a different system.  I love the balance between individual relationships with the deity and expressions of neighborhood community that I see in this.