Toga Party: The Greek Festival Celebrating the Olympian Gods

This article originally appeared on VICE Greece

On the night of Friday the 7th of July, hundreds of worshippers of the 12 ancient Greek gods gathered in the town of Litochoro at the foot of Mount Olympus. Wrapped in their finest white robes and wreath crowns, men and women of all ages joined a procession as part of the 22nd annual Prometheia Festival. They carried torches, shields and spears as they made their way through the town, before ending the procession at Litochoro's amphitheatre, which has hosted cultural events since ancient times.

The following day, the procession went up the mountain to a grove dedicated to Prometheus, giving worshippers the chance to – in the organisers' words – "connect with our ancestors' world" and to "celebrate the primordial sources that gave birth to us all". That's not the only objective of the festival – every year, it attracts droves of tourists from all over Greece and other parts of Europe.

Scroll down to see more pictures from the 22nd Prometheia Festival.