Kalampaki

Kalampaki or Kalambaki ( _el. Καλαμπάκι, formerly Καλαμπάκιον) is a village 12km to the south of Drama, in the Drama prefecture of the East Macedonia and Thrace periphery of Greece. Kalambaki is the capital of the Kalambaki municipality which also contains the villages of Ftelia, Agia Paraskevi, Kalamonas and Nerofraktis. It has a population of approximately 2500 (2005 est.). Most of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, with tobacco, corn and cotton being the main products.

The population of Kalambaki consists mainly of descendants of four population groups, Pontus Greeks, Greeks of Eastern Thrace, Greeks of Asia Minor (mainly from Cappadocia, whose ancestors spoke Turkish but were Greek Orthodox Christians in religion) and Greeks whose ancestors had been living in Kalambaki already before the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) was ratified.

In the vicinity of Kalambaki Roman milestones have been discovered indicating that the ancient Via Egnatia passed very close by.

Every year on January 18, the feast day of Saint Athanasius, a religious festival named the "Kourbani" is held in Kalambaki.It is possibly the Christian equivalent of the Muslim Kurban. During this day a dish consisting of veal in a type of wheat known as pligouri is produced and shared among the participants in the festival.

References

*GEOnet|-818346