All about Zakynthos

Fireworks in Zakynthos are intertwined with festivals and the expression of the religious faith of the people. L.Ch.Zois in his "Historical and Folklore Dictionary of Zakynthos", writes: "According to ancient custom, most of the churches on the day of Easter and for the solemnity of the feast burned fireworks", and accepts that the Zakynthians may have been among the first to "burn" fireworks after their spread in Europe by Arabs and Greeks. Others argue that fireworks were brought from Europe to Zakynthos by the Venetians, who, during their stay on the island (1485-1797), performed various pyrotechnic displays from the Castle of Zakynthos. To commemorate these displays, the Zakynthian pyrotechnicians later created an impressive firework display, the 'Castle', with which they closed the pyrotechnical programme of each official festive display. One type of firework, which was 'burning' in Zakynthos from the second half of the 19th to the first half of the 20th century, was the 'Pentalpha', which has Venetian origins and is related to the fireworks of the same name that are 'burned' in Venice every year, at the beginning of July, at the festival of St. Lucia. The most common were the 'soulatsadoros' and the wheels, which, depending on the movement they made, formed different shapes, and were called 'helios' (sun), 'litrouvio' (olive mill), 'psili' (fine) and 'megali' (large). The most popular was the burning of the 'koutsouniou' which, depending on the period of time and political conditions, took the most hated form for the people: the Judas, Mussolini, Harding. Their makers were expert pyrotechnicians, the most famous of whom was the Italian Francis Giustozzi.