There the variety of music and the literal folk tradition is revealed. In every popular festival you will experience unknown emotions by taking part or watching the ancient local dances, the different kinds of live music, the Sitian "kontilies" (the mastery of the lyre) and "mantinades" the old or improvised folk Cretan couplets, traditions in which Sitians the born revellers are unrivalled. Usually simple or casual meetings of locals or foreigners turn out to become a party.
In autumn the "kazanemata" the very old process has become very attractive to the Europeans the last few years, ends up to be a modem Dionysian feast. The freshness and innovation inherited by the Minoan civilization still survive in the artistic production of more traditional fields as woodcarving, metal work, and goldsmiths' ware and textile industry. And it is the unique technical capability of the potters that create things on the tracks of the great ceramic tradition of the Minoans. It is the Byzantine icons that continue the great tradition of the Cretan School, the ancient are still manufactured with the same artistry up to this day. The characteristics and the rhythm of life that are impressed upon the fortunate travelers on the long lived Cretan land survive above all in the simple daily joys and habits.
