One night a year, two neighboring churches in the Greek village of Vrontados go to war.
In a Holy Saturday tradition that has been observed for well over one hundred years, the parishioners of two Orthodox churches in Vrontados wait until the sun goes down, and then fire upwards of 100,000 homemade rockets at one another. It is a mock battle, of course, and somewhat ironically, it is a symbolic event that is used to signify peace in the region. Historians can’t agree on the exact origins of the tradition, although many believe that it dates back to the 19th century when villagers would fake a civil war to ward off any foreign armies inclined to invade over Easter weekend. What is indisputable, however, is that it is a tradition unlike any other, and that a night sky brimming with rockets is truly a sight to behold.