Patras Carnival

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Patras Carnival" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Patras Carnival, or Patrino karnavali, is the largest event of its kind in Greece. The Carnival was first held in 1829.^[1] The events begin on 17 January and last up to Clean Monday. The carnival of Patras is not a single event but a variety of events that includes balls, parades, hidden treasure hunt and the children's carnival amongst others. It climaxes in the last weekend of Carnival with the Saturday evening parade of carnival groups, the extravagant Sunday parade of floats and groups, and finally the ritual burning of the carnival king at the St. Nikolaos Street pier in the harbour of Patras. Its characteristics are spontaneity, improvisation, inspiration and volunteerism. In 2019, there were about 750.000 participants.^{[citation needed]}