The first holy snake of Virgin Mary appeared last night at the Church of Theotokos (Virgin Mary) at the village Arginia on Kefalonia.

The phenomenon of the Holy Snakes of Virgin Mary has been occurring for centuries between August 5 and August 15 during the festivities for Virgin Mary on the island of Kefalonia, and especially at villages Markopoulo and Arginia.

According to the myth, the monastery at Markopoulo was attacked by pirates in 1705. The nuns prayed to Virgin Mary for protection and were transformed into snakes to avoid being taken as prisoners. Another version of this myth is that Virgin Mary sent snakes to kill the invaders.

The snakes have a small cross on their head and their tongues are also in the shape of a cross. They are harmless and as soon as the Liturgy concludes on the 15th of August, they disappear and cannot be found until the following year.

This year, though, the snakes of Virgin Mary did not appear on August 5 as they usually do. According to tradition, the snakes did not appear in 1953, when a strong earthquake had destroyed most part of the island and in 1987 and 2005 without any natural disaster having occured.

It should be noted that at the beginning of this year a big earthquake occurred on Kefalonia, but as it seems this earthquake did not prevent the snakes from appearing again.