Christmas for All at the Museum of Cycladic Art

The myths of Hercules with a twist…

A paradoxical narrative that shows that, depending on the way you look at a story, it takes on a new form, one you hadn’t even imagined.

Two narrators, an actor, and a musician, each with their own tools, grasp the thread of the myth and lead the audience into its unknown paths. With them, we will rediscover the Labors of Hercules.

A strange theatrical puzzle that opens new dimensions, opportunities and stories to the myth we already know. Fellow travelers on this journey will be objects, songs, all the possible paradoxical timbres that a piano can produce, and electronic sounds will circulate the stage.

Entrance: €10/per person (with online reservation)

Direction: Sofia Paschou
Actor: Apostolis Psihramis
Composer, Musician on stage: Nikos Galenianos

Who said that Christmas always passes by quietly in the Cyclades? In Kea, a warm, fragrant, and mischievous melomakarono, just out of the baking tray, decided to make a run for it! It rolls, tumbles, and entangles a woman into adventures with the goblins.

In Tinos, a tailor searches for his golden needle to sew Santa Claus’s sack before all the goblins can play tricks on him. In Naxos, three young men search for the lost princesses, and in Andros, a trickster makes their lives difficult. In Amorgos, a woman searches for the biggest egg on the island to trick the goblins and send them back to where they came from.

Entrance: €10/per person (with online reservation)

Narration – Storytelling: Yorgos Evgenikos
Music: Irene Nikolakopoulou

The puppet theater group Afou takes inspiration from and adapts Charles Dickens’s famous story, A Christmas Carol, featuring the strange and miserly Ebenezer Scrooge.

Through a fairytale-like set with atmospheric lighting, original music, handmade creations, puppets, props, and the use of modern techniques, Afou’s Christmas production will transport us to the snowy 19th-century London in a story full of mystery, surprises, and humorous moments!

Entrance: €10/per person (with online reservation)

Credits:
Adaptation / Direction: Dimitra Pemousi
Props / Constructions: Afou Team
Music: Manolis Manousakis
Photography / Lighting: Kostas Kostopoulos
Production: AFOU A.M.K.E.
Cast: Dimitra Pemousi, Christina Tsatsou

Giorgos Pittas will give a talk titled ‘Flavors of Coexistence in the Cyclades: Winter Traditions and Christmas Customs,’ celebrating the living practices and everyday customs of the Cyclades, as they have taken shape and continue to be preserved today on islands such as Mykonos and Paros. The talk examines the ways in which island communities have traditionally used —and still use— the preparation of food as an act of coexistence, collaboration, and the transmission of knowledge.

From the collective work of the Mykonian household to the Parian kazanies surrounding the production of souma, the small rituals of daily life serve as carriers of memory and as defining elements of Cycladic identity.

* During the talk at the Stathatos Mansion, a table with Cycladic treats and delicacies will be offered to participants, in collaboration with the Cyclades Chamber of Commerce.

Entrance: €12/per person (with online reservation)

About the speaker
Giorgos Pittas was born in Athens in 1954. He is a furniture designer and interior designer, and since 2016 he has founded the website Greek Gastronomy Guide, dedicated to showcasing Greek gastronomy in its entirety. As a hotelier, he served on the Board of Directors of SETE (Greek Tourism Confederation) and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels.

His publications include, among others: Signs of the Aegean (2007), Paros: A Journey Through Place and Time (2008), The Athenian Taverna (2009), Festivals of the Aegean (2011), The Cafés of Greece (2013), Treasures of Greek Gastronomy (2015), ABC of Greek Gastronomy (2020), Gastronomy Communities (2021), Paros: Place, Food Culture, Gastronomy (2023), and “And They All Ate and Rejoiced… The Gastronomy of Skiathos Through the Eyes of Papadiamantis” (2024).

In the framework of the impact programs, the Museum of Cycladic Art will present a performance with free admission for anyone over the age of 65.

This holiday season, we will travel across plains and mountains, to far-off and nearby lands! Surely, we’ll find somewhere to stay…

A performance for adults that brings back the childlike wonder of Christmas, filled with stories that bring laughter and nostalgia in our hearts.

Accompanied by music, we will listen to three folk stories from different parts of the world! From the snowy northern Scandinavian countries, from the depths of the East, and the folk traditions of our land.

On stage, the narration will be accompanied by musical instruments, some known and some perhaps forgotten, such as oud, trumpet, accordion, small baglama, Byzantine lyra, kalimba, tambour, and metallophone. At the same time, we will listen to carols and retold festive traditional songs.

Entrance: Free (with phone reservation)

Narration: Elli Giannaki
Music: Dimitris Kourtis και Nikos Karydis