Cyprus culture

Cyprus culture people food and festivals

Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, and a member state of the European Union. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syriaand Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt and east of Greece.

The people of Cyprus are broadly divided into two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who share many cultural traits but maintain distinct identities based on ethnicity, religion, language, and close ties with their respective motherlands.

Religion in Cyprus. Christians make up 78% of the Cypriot population. Most Greek Cypriots, and thus the majority of the population of Cyprus, are members of the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus (Church of Cyprus), whereas most Turkish Cypriots are officially Sunni Muslim

The traditional folk music of Cyprus has several common elements with Greek, Turkish, and Arabic music including Greco-Turkish dances such as the sousta, syrtos, zeibekikos, tatsia, and karsilamas as well as the Middle Eastern-inspired tsifteteli and arapies. There is also a form of musical poetry known as chattista which is often performed at traditional feasts and celebrations. The instruments commonly associated with Cyprus folk music are the bouzouki,oud ("outi"), violin ("fkiolin"), lute ("laouto"), accordion, Cyprus flute ("pithkiavlin") and percussion (including the "toumperleki"). Composers associated with traditional Cypriot music include Evagoras Karageorgis, Marios Tokas, Solon Michaelides and Savvas Salides.

Cyprus customs and traditions - Apart from the many religious customs and traditions that can be traced back to the origins of Greek Orthodoxy and are evident during Easter, Christmas, the festival of the flood (kataklysmos), Saint Paul's feast and other religious celebrations, there are many more relating to music dancing and wine.
For example the Wine Festival of Limassol taking place every year during the month of September, where wine is free flowing for ten to twelve days. Where music and dance are concerned, Cyprus has quite distinct traditions from those of Greece. Traditional Cypriot costumes, dancing face to face or in a group, accompanied by violin or flute music, is the norm.

Cyprus cultural heritage - 10,000 years of Cyprus history make it impossible to even begin to describe the Cypriot culture. Ten millennia of history has left its mark allover the island of Cyprus, in the hundreds ofarchaeological sites scattered around Cyprus.

 To name but a few, the ancient amphitheaters of Curium outside of Limassol and of Paphos where even now, during the summer months, concerts and plays still take place, the neolithic settlement of Hirokitia, the tens of Byzantine churches dotted around the island, the antiquities of Paphos, the sanctuary of Aphrodite