Sacred snakes of Cephalonia

The sacred snakes of Cephalonia are celebrated annually on 15 August (the Feast of the Dormition) on Cephalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands in Western Greece.[1]

History

The sacred snakes are celebrated in the Church of the Theotokos ("Mother of God"), where they are said to appear annually for the celebration of the Dormition of the Mother of God,[1], when in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches commemorate the "falling asleep" or death of Mary, mother of Jesus, and her bodily resurrection before being taken up into heaven.

Daniel Ogden argues in Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds (2013) that "old myth and modern tourist disinformation" make it difficult to establish history and fact.[1]

gollark: The rednet repeater bugs?
gollark: The GPS one?
gollark: Which exploit? The potatOS one?
gollark: I really need to figure out if my website is actually IPv6-accessible.
gollark: I don't understand why you would expect me to actively help you with this.

References
  1. Ogden, Daniel (2013). Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds. Oxford UP. p. 378. ISBN 9780199557325.


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