Description

This carnival parade in which only women participate takes place on the last Thursday before the Great Lent, i.e. the last Thursday of Carnival. Over twenty groups of around 1,000 people participate in the Preveza Women’s Carnival every year.

It began in the early 1960s when a group of Prevezian ladies decided to put on costumes and go out in the streets of the town. Their aim was to have fun. They chose to dress up on a Thursday (hence why it is held on this day) because this was the day when the one and only man of the group did not work. They made a round of the town and at night they enjoyed themselves with their husbands in a popular centre for entertainment. This was repeated in the following years with the participation of an ever-growing number of women (friends – acquaintances). Each participant chose for herself the theme of her costume. In the first years, they would gather in houses where they themselves made their costumes. As some of the women who were present at that time recall, such meetings were especially enjoyable because they eventually became feasts as the women also cooked, talked, and had fun. Over time, the various groups of women began to choose a common theme for their costumes. This could vary from animals, flowers, objects or male professions to matters that were of the moment at the time. This carnival has carried on up to the present day, now held on a greater scale but still with the participation of only women. The parade starts at the Second Primary School on Irinis Avenue (the main road of the town), crosses Karyotaki Street and the sea-front, and ends at the Androutsos square. At night, after the parade, all the masqueraded people enjoy themselves in an entertainment centre of the region.