Kastoria (in northern Greece) has maintained many old and unique folk traditions that are revived all year round. The event called "Ragoutsaria", taking place every year from 6th to 7th of January (Epiphany and St. John Baptist day), is the unique carnival event of Kastoria, stemming from the period of the worship of ancient god Dionysus. “Rogatores” in Latin means "beggars". During the two days of celebration, the disguised members of the groups used to "beg" for presents in order to send away the bad spirits and have a nice/good/lucky year.
In the modern days, younger and older people get together in a wild celebration spreading to every district of the city. From different neighbourhoods they form groups, each group with its own band, and celebrate in a frenzy - like atmosphere, regardless of their social status. The variety of music instruments is interesting as apart from the traditional ones, the bagpipes and the 'zournades', from the early 1900s the bands started having more percurssions - the 'takoumia' , and more wind instruments, remnant of the military bands that would occasionally stop by the city.
In order to achieve their target,they make a lot of noise that sends away the bad spirits.
