Last updated on July 6th, 2025 at 05:40 pm
Petegoletsa
On the last Thursday of the carnival, Corfu has revived a very old tradition, an integral part of the Corfu carnival, which dates from the years of Venetian rule. It is called the Petegoletsia; petegolia is simply the gossip, which means exactly what it says.
It is a popular street theatre that takes place in public, between the balconies of the old city along the narrow alleyways.
In these ‘gossip plays,’ the women come onto their balconies and gossip to their neighbors, making sly comments about recent events and also about the laundry of the other people. These are all played in the original dialect of Corfu and in a libertine language and style that would make even Aristophanes blush.
It is the famous indiscretion of Corfu, which was misunderstood in other parts of Greece, but here it is completely different, the Corfiots routinely use this phraseology many times in everyday social life, it helps to halt misunderstandings at a low level, giving chance to let off steam and avoid the use of force.
The Petegoletsia are watched every year by thousands of people; they satirize politicians, even by exposing their personal lives and scandals in public, both at the national and local levels.
Local MPs, mayors, and other public figures have to listen and at least pretend not to mind the jibes.
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