The Feast of Saint Peter in Spata

Every year on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29th, Spata celebrates a three-day festival that combines elements of the official Christian religion and popular worship. The church is estimated to have been built around 1450-1480 and is dedicated to the first apostles Peter and Paul. It is a rectangular cruciform inscribed temple. The temple was moved to a new location, specifically 340 meters further west, during the construction of the airport of El. Venizelos airport to allow the construction of the western runway. During the celebration, animals (bulls) are offered as an oblation. The meat is made into a stew. The preparation of the food requires the cooperation of all the inhabitants of the village, who contribute voluntarily as a fulfillment of the sacrifice for health and a good harvest. In recent years, the community, respecting the parameters that now regulate the behavior of people towards animals, does not perform the bull sacrifice. The feast of St. Peter in Spata is a tradition that contributes to the preservation of the collective memory and identity of the inhabitants of Spata, strengthening the ties that bind the people of the community, who no longer live there, to their homeland. The tradition has been registered in the National Index of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece.