kourbáni

A kourbáni is a communal feast that follows a sacrifice of animals, usually lambs, as votive offerings to certain saints (usually it's Ag. Georgios), similar to the animal sacrifices in ancient Greece. It was a custom adopted by the Turks during their occupation, and still takes place in a few villages in Macedonia and Thrace in Greece as well as in parts of Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

Lésvos is the last Greek island to hold kourbánia, one in Mistegna after Easter and that culminates with the sacrifice of a garlanded bull in honour of Ag. Charálambos on Mount Távros ('Bull') in the village of the Ag. Paraskeví.