Naxos, an island in Greece, welcomes spring through carnival

The island of Naxos in Greece welcomes spring by holding a colorful Carnival and, some of the customs followed date back to antiquity. In some of the villages, young men wearing cow bells and carrying a phallic symbol - a common feature of ancient rites celebrating spring - dance their way to the village's main square. They invite the women to dance and the women, in turn, offer them local delicacies and wine.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 27 February 2017.

A recent addition from 1994 is the Lampadiforia (Torch Parade) in which young men and women with faces painted to resemble black-and-white masks wear white sheets and hold torches on long poles and parade toward the Temple of Apollo. It was created by young members of the local cinema club. At that time, hardly 50 people took part - today it is a 2000 strong group.
The Torch Parade is now a well-established part of Carnival festivities with revelers dancing to the beat of drums and ends at the town's central square for burning a scarecrow.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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NATO F-16 crashes into parked planes in Spanish military airbase – 10 killed, 13 injured

#F16crash #Spain #Greece #LosLlanos #NATO The F-16 belonged to Greece and was on a NATO training exercise when it crashed into planes parked on the runway of Los Llanos base near Albacete, 160 miles south-east of Madrid, a military base in Spain.
At least 10 people have been killed in the crash and thirteen more have been injured with reports of seven of them being in a very serious condition. As per reports, the F-16 had just taken off when it lost power and smashed into an area where aircraft also involved in the exercise were parked on the tarmac.
The dead included both the pilots of the aircraft. The area has been cordoned off. It is understood that most of the victims were not Spanish, nor British.
As confirmed by a defense ministry statement, the plane was a part of the tactical leadership program (TLP) of NATO and was carrying out a (training) exercise when during the take-off the plane lost power. It crashed "into the parking area for planes, crashing into various planes that were parked there".
Incidentally, this is the second accident at the air base within the last six months. In July, the pilot of a Spanish fighter-bomber died when the aircraft exploded after taking off during Spanish-US military exercises.