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The manners and customs of the island are identical as everywhere in Greece at the only
exception that weddings and christenings are held in a very ceremonial and formal way.
In the various feasts and festivals the inhabitants wear their traditional costumes; men
wear their large drawers (vraka) and women wear their embroidered shirts. The inhabitants
of Nisyros love dancing and singing, which is indispensable during their magnificent
feasts. Feasts and festivals constitute significant cultural events and therefore they are
carried out in public buildings such as the Zosimopouleio Theater of Nisyros. Traditional
weddings are held in its hall and yard and the big, in participation, festival of Panaghia
Spiliani (Holy Virgin of the Caves) as well.
The traditional musical instruments of Nisyros are the violin, the dulcimer
(santouri) and the lute. Its traditional dishes, such as the boukounies (pork baked
in grease), the kapamas (stuffed kid), the pitthia (chickpea balls), the myzithra (cream
cheese), the agramytthozoumo, le capers, the cheese from tyria etc as well as its
exquisite traditional sweets such as the xerotigana, the diples (turnovers), the
doughnuts, the foinikia, the kourambi?s (sugared buns), the moustalevria (must- jelly),
les conserves (bitter orange, quince, cherry tomato), the pastellaries (opened figs
garnished with almond kernel and sesame), the honey etc. All these give a special colour
to the feasts and festivals of the inhabitants of Nisyros and an additional pleasure to
visitors.
There are also the traditional beverages such as the Soumada (bitter almond juice),
the koukouzina (essence of grapes or figs tasting like raki), and the sapsycho (rosemary).
All these are made from traditional recipes passed from one generation to the other and
constitute a secret kept in a very rigorous way by the hardly enough fabricants.
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