Samarina is a village and a former municipality

Communities and Municipalities of Greece

For the new municipalities of Greece see the Kallikratis ProgrammeThe municipalities and communities of Greece are one of several levels of government within the organizational structure of that country. Thirteen regions called peripheries form the largest unit of government beneath the State. ...

 in Grevena peripheral unit, West Macedonia

West Macedonia

West Macedonia is one of the thirteen regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Greek Macedonia. It is divided into the regional units of Florina, Grevena, Kastoria, and Kozani.-Geography:...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Grevena

Grevena

Grevena is a town and municipality in Greece, capital of the Grevena peripheral unit. The town's current population is 10,447 citizens; it lies about 400 km from Athens and about 180 km from Thessaloniki. The municipality's population is 30,564...

, of which it is a municipal unit. It is located on an eastern spur of Mount Smolikas

Smolikas

Mount Smolikas , also with the o accented , at a height of 2,637 metres above sea level, is the second highest mountain in Greece, after Mount Olympus, and the highest of the Pindus Mountains. The mountain is formed in ophiolite rocks. During the Pleistocene the northern and eastern cirques and...

, the highest of the Pindus

Pindus

The Pindus mountain range is located in northern Greece and southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km long, with a maximum elevation of 2637 m . Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epirus, the Pindus range is often called the "spine of Greece"...

 range and the second-highest mountain in all of Greece. At an altitude of 1380–1515 meters, it is considered one of the the highest villages in Greece and also one of the highest in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

; its height puts it among soaring settlements such as: Aetomilitsa

Aetomilitsa

Aetomilitsa is a village and a former community in the Ioannina peripheral unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Konitsa, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies on the Gramos mountain. In the past it was known as Denisko or Densko...

(Densko) and Seli

Seli

Seli is a mountainous-alpine village and winter sports resort located in the Vermion Mountains of northern Greece. The village of Seli is located at a distance of 22km from Veria and 93km from Thessaloniki, in the prefecture of Imathia, Central Macedonia-Greece. It is also known as Kato Vermion...

(Selia). Its population primarily consists of Aromanians

Aromanians

Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...

(Vlachs). It attracts many tourists due to its scenic location and beautiful pine and beech forests.

Samarina is the most famous of all the Vlach villages of the Pindus and the inhabitants are fiercely proud of their heritage and traditions. Every summer on August 15, on the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin, Samarinans from all over the world assemble on their ancestral village to celebrate. There, on the main square outside the Great Church, they perform the "Great Dance" (Greek: Tranós Chorós, Aromanian: Corlu Mari): thousands of people hold hands and form concentric circles, and they walk slowly and ceremonially counterclockwise, while singing their traditional songs in a rousing unison chorus.

History

This village in the Pindos mountains with its Aromanian population enjoyed successful periods of exceptional economic growth and cultural development. On a map it was shown under the name Santa Marina. Its inhabitants tended sheep and goats and wove a woolen fabric called flokati ('nflucati, velentza), which they sold at the region's trade fairs. The people of Samarina were also involved in trade, and as muleteers they pioneered long caravans that traveled all over the Balkans. The level of culture reached by this town (it had churches, schools and a library) is evident in the excellence of its religious painting. Samarina flourished at the end of the 18th century and during the 19th. The economic success was based on a group of activities, but mostly in the cattle-breading, the small industries, the trade and the arts.

An important account of the life of the Aromanian population of Samarina at the beginning of the 20th century is provided in a study by A.J.B. Wace and M.S. Thompson entitled Nomads of the Balkans: an account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus, London 1914.

The Greek folklore song "Children of Samarina" (Greek: Παιδιά απ'την Σαμαρίνα) is associated with it. It refers to local volunteers who fought and lost their lives during the Greek War of Independence

Greek War of Independence

The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

 against the Turks in 1821. In particular, it refers to the Messolonghi events and the heroic "Exodus of its Guards".

Samarina was the birthplace of Alchiviad Diamandi di Samarina and Nicola Matushi

Nicola Matushi

Nicola Matushi was an Aromanian lawyer, politician and Regent of Pindus....

, leaders of the local autonomous Vlach nationalist state during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

; the Principality of Pindus and the Voivodship of Macedonia. It was also where the revolutionary Ioannis Arkoudas came from.