Ktikados is a traditional settlement with alleyways, little neighborhoods, flower gardens that bask in the sun. Strolling through the village, you can see most of the characteristic elements of Tinos’ architecture: traditional houses and chapels, cobbled lanes, arches and lintels, fountains and places where the communal laundry used to take place.
On the day when Christ’s Resurrection is celebrated, the Rite of Love in Ktikados, seeks the reconciliation of all the faithful, Catholic and Orthodox, as well as the honoring of those loved ones who have passed away. The procession of the icon throughout the village then takes place, after the liturgy. At noon the church bells call the faithful, Catholic and Orthodox, to the hall that lies beneath the Holy Church and which can accommodate 300 persons and holds a long stone table along a terrace set up for the celebration with traditional dishes.
The women of the village cook beef soup, roasted meats (mainly beef), and a variety of other special meze. Once the food is served, the priest sings “Christόs Anesti” (Christ is Risen) three times and the meal begins.
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.
Photos: tinosecret.gr
