Kozani: the fur city of Greek Macedonia

Historic center of fur processing, Kozani hosts an unusual fire ritual on the eve of New Year every year.

The center, historic city of furs in Greek Macedonia, is visited comfortably on foot.

The ritual of the Fanoi, bonfires lit in historic neighborhoods on New Year's Eve, remains a tradition unique to Kozani that likely predates Christianity.

Just steps away, the Fur Museum tells the history of fur processing, an industry that made Kozani wealthy from the eighteenth century onward.

Moving toward the center you visit the Manousi Archontiko, a nineteenth-century stately residence belonging to a wealthy family of fur merchants.

In the evening, the central square's cafés animate the city's social life around the Church of Saint Nicholas, the community's religious heart.

The ritual of the Fanoi, with its bonfires lit in every city neighborhood, may derive from ancient pagan purification practices never completely replaced by Christianity in the region, surviving as a popular festival.

Kozani became one of Europe's principal fur-processing centers thanks to its merchants, who traded furs coming from far away Siberian Russia, later reselling them throughout Western Europe.