Greece is a country with an extremely wealthy tradition and folk culture.

Each year and in every part of the country various cultural events are held, which give partcipans the opportunity to become the communicants of every form of intellectual creation and which acquaint us with the highly interesting aspects of our popular heritage.

Fulfilling the wish of many of our fellow citizens, the Cretan Association of Santorini 'To Arkadi' is continuing for the third year now its efforts to preserve the traditional culture of the two islands, of Crete and Santorini. In this way it aspires to become the cultural bridge tha will join people and places having similar cultural characteristics.

Through these events, the members of the Association wish to give locals and tourists the opportunity to be entertained and to have a pleasand time. At the same time they have the chance to achieve the best possible promotion of our cultural reality , on which we rely in order for us, as a people, to enhance our hisorical continuity in this large european family.

The mptive bihind this effort is mainly to encourage young people to love their home, their history, their ideas and their traditions through a genuine cross-cultural dialogue between the people of Crete and Thira.

We hope that these events will constitute the link that will keep us closely tied to each other, asa well as to our rootsand cultural background. Together let us stand up against ths era of alieation and individualismby expressing our compelling insistence on preserving the age-old values that have formed an unbreakable bond between us and our native land.

The chairman

Emmanuel Orphanos

Fira,
84700 Santorini
ôçë. +30 22860 28605
fax: +30 22860 28604
email: petini@otenet.gr