The 15th of August is celebrated today with great splendor and devotion throughout Corfu, while in many churches the Christian custom of distributing the Virgin Mary’s ribbon is revived.
According to the century-old custom, Corfu women decorating the Epitaph of Virgin Mary with hundreds of red and white ribbons. The ribbons are distributed to the faithful after the Divine Liturgy, on the day of August 15th, to bring health and happiness to every home.
In the city of Corfu, the custom revives in the Church of the Virgin Mary Eleousa of Mandouki. A small chapel, first built in the 18th century and after a major fire in 1750, was burned but rebuilt to its present form.
The pilgrimage of the Epitaph and the icon of Virgin Mary lasts throughout the night. “It is rumored that there are few who can photograph the miraculous image and this is only when the Virgin Mary allows it”, women from the Ecclesiastical Committee say to ANA-MPA.
