Curtain Call for the 2025 Rethymno Carnival

Everything is ready for the great celebration of Crete. The 2025 Rethymno Carnival "raises the curtain" and with a full three-day event, invites young and old "to come into the light", as is the message of this year's thematic event.

The first three-day event begins next Friday, February 7, 2025, with an event, which is included for the first time in the program of carnival events in our city. It includes a large Costume Exhibition with this year's costumes of all groups, which will be held at the House of Culture.

The exhibition is curated by artist Chrysi Skepetzi and director Kostis Kapelonis, giving their own important tone to the presentation of the costumes of the groups participating in this year's carnival.

The opening of the exhibition will take place at 7 pm on Friday and admission will be free for the public throughout its operation. The exhibition will be open daily until Wednesday, February 26, 2025.

The next day, Saturday, February 8, 2025, another new event comes to give its own color and pulse to the renewed carnival program.

The presentation of the theme "Come into the Light" is made through a spectacular event that will take place at the QUEENS Room Club. It includes a costume contest that will imaginatively capture the theme and thus the Carnival queen will be chosen by voting via Instagram and by the vote of a special jury.

The event, which includes many surprises as well as the closing ceremony of the Online Treasure Hunt organized by the group “Adiforoi – Adiaforoi”, will begin at 9 pm on Saturday and admission is free for the public.

The official opening ceremony will follow on Sunday, February 9, at 8 pm in Agnostos Stratiotis Square.

The Mayor of Rethymno, Mr. Giorgis H. Marinakis, will declare the opening of the Rethymno Carnival and the Municipal Philharmonic Orchestra will introduce us to the carnival spirit with its unique participation.

The brilliant evening, which includes a unique show, will culminate with the grand concert of the youth's favorite performer Lila, which is expected to thrill young and old alike.

Admission to this event is also free for the public.

Come to the light!

The message of the Rethymno Carnival 2025

The times we are living in are interesting and multidimensional, but they also hide their little darknesses. Cities are growing, modern societies are becoming more complex, human relationships are becoming more difficult, and somewhere, in modern everyday life, the black color of loneliness and negative emotions finds ample space to spread. After all, black has the natural property of absorbing all other colors…

Rethymno is a city that is bathed in light almost all year round. The special architecture of the Old Town, with its narrow alleys leading to bright squares, is a magical journey into past civilizations. In the dim modern life, Rethymno responds with the light of the Cretan Renaissance, with the light of human relationships, and with the light of artistic and literary creation.

After all, the entire history of the city is a continuous sequence of darkness and light. The darkness of the conquerors, the light of the Cretan Renaissance, the darkness of the difficult Ottoman period, the strong light of hope, the darkness of destruction, the light of unique architectural monuments, of musical and artistic creation.

This miraculous light has endured through time, when the darkness has faded, and is what many different cultures have scattered and continue to scatter generously in the city, from antiquity to the present day.

The Rethymno Carnival is closely linked to this creative light. With more than a century of recorded history, deeply rooted in traditional events and rituals, with a close cultural affinity with the Venetian theater and the Comedia Del’ Arte, it has always expressed the light and optimism of the creative impulse of an entire city.

After all, the city is the ideal setting to wander around, to get close to other people, to have fun in every alley, to become a hero/heroine of classic fairy tales, and to come to the light of a unique experience. The Rethymno Carnival has always been the brightest point in time, with thousands of people eagerly awaiting it, to feel the joy of entertainment away from negative emotions and sad thoughts.

This year's Rethymno Carnival campaign once again borrows elements from Comedia Del Arte, and tries, through the dipole of darkness and light, to explore aspects of the city and the emotions that make the experience of Carnival Events in Rethymno unforgettable.

Through the Rethymno Carnival, we will try to bring to the surface positive emotions like a Renaissance chiaroscuro painting where bright forms emerge from the dark background.

Leave the dark side of life behind!
Come into the light!

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