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The festival of the Discovery of the Holy Icon of the Virgin Mary is the “Great Day” of the island. The celebration commences in the evening with vespers that take place in the church of Evreseos to which the miraculous icon is moved. The next morning, a mass takes place in the main temple, and at 2.30 pm – the exact time of the discovery – a procession of the Holy Icon takes place in the city along the same path the inhabitants followed on the 30th of January 1823.
The celebration ends with the traditional reception at a hotel in the town of Tinos. At the reception and nearby taverns and restaurants, one can enjoy the island’s local cuisine. Tinos traditional dishes are artichokes cooked in a variety of ways, sun-dried tomatoes with batter, froutalia, savore with molasses, fried fish with petimezi sauce, pork sausages, the saltsisi, and the louza of Tinos. Cheeses include the famed graviera and the kopanisti. As for sweets, famous are the amygdalota, xerotigana, karidota, pasteli, loukoumi, and various kinds of halva as well as the renowned thyme honey of Tinos.
On the ground floor within the Church of Evangelistria is the temple of the Evreseos (Discovery) or Zoodochos Pigi (Fountain of Life). The atmosphere is imposing, with the vaulted lines, the shaded light, the candles, and the icons of the saints. An aperture capped by silver identifies the point from which, in 1823, the miraculous icon appeared. Next to it is a marble fountain with holy water running from the spring that appeared during the excavations conducted to find the icon.
