Rocket War Festival

Rouketopolemos (initially rocket war) is the name of a local religious three-day festival event held annually at Easter in the town of Vrondados on the Greek island of Chios. The roots of the event can be traced to the old custom of the two enemy local churches who engaged in a rocket-war by firing tens of thousands of home-made firework rockets to solve their differences. The island of Chios has a long tradition with religion and it is now the gateway for refugees entering Europe. Despite the religious population of the island a lot of the islanders react to the refugees arriving by protesting, far-right groups attack refugee camps and all this under the pretext of religion. Are we then forgetting the command Love one another? So in this constantly changing world with political instability, the rise of the far-right as well as financial and immigration crises featuring as core global problems, I decided to re-brand the festival and give it a political theme, thus creating a festival that can give people the space and the right to voice their thoughts.