Sandals, cloaks, helmets and incantations were the order of the day during the gathering of Greece’s faithful to honour the ancient Olympian gods, at Litochoro, Friday. But the pagans were not only Greeks, as thousands from around the world took part in the festivities celebrating Prometheus under the foot of mount Olympus. The aim of the celebrations, which is held once a year, is to come together and ‘know the Greek spirit and ethos, and honour the ancient philosophers and their schools’, as the faithful say. The opening ceremonies took place last Thursday with the lighting of the flame at the village of Dion. Some sources say that an annoyed Orthodox priest in the village was blasting foreign music to cover up the invocations of the pagans. The procession ended at the Litochoro amphitheatre where a number of ancient cultural events took place. The 5-day celebrations culminated in an ancient Greek night of drink and harp music on Saturday. It is rumoured that during that night sexual orgies take place in honour of the 12 gods, however this information is unconfirmed.