Xirolivado

Xirolivado

The village of Xirolivado is built at an altitude of 1,220 meters on a plateau of Mountain Vermio and is one of the highest settlements in Greece. The settlement is very old and dates back to Byzantine times without knowing its old name, while a series of written references in the documents of the Turkish seminary of Veria from 1640-1641 confirm its location. The village was destroyed and set on fire several times until the settlement of about 100 families from the Vlach villages of Grevena round 1840.

Worth to visit

The small lake next to the settlement that is formed during the summer months that the locals name it “Bara”.
The resting area in the forest next to the settlement.

Important dates

23 June
On June 23, “Perperuna and Galeata” is celebrated. The revival of the custom, which takes place during the summer period when the Vlachs went to the mountain for the summer period, is combined with the invocation of rain and the divination for the fate of the girls who participate in the event. The custom begins on the eve, June 23, where the girls of the village gather and decorate the “Galeata”, each throwing a silverware, the “rizikaria”, because from them comes the radical, the fate of every girl.
20 July
On the 20th of July, the “Celebration of the Prophet Elias”, the top event of Xirolivado village where the custom of auctioning icons is revived. After the end of the auction, a procession of the holy icons takes place, which starts from the church and ends at the location called “Buna” (Kalo Pigadi) in the meadow. In the procession that is formed, the road is opened by horsemen, while the icons are accompanied honorably dressed in traditional costumes by “Xirolivadiotes” (people from Xirolivado) and the whole world follows. In Buna the sanctification of the wells, the bar, the meadow, the herds and the forest is performed. The tradition wants the “Tranos Dance” to be revived in “Tsairi” after the sanctification, a ritual dance, with simple movements, with melodic contradictions, symbolizing the cycle of life and saving elements from the ancient Doric circle dances.
July
Every July the “Mountain Race of Xirolivado”. The race is considered an easy level (14.5 mm) in a forest area in a beautiful landscape with small altitude differences but also many points with paths that rest the runner.