The World’s Most Dangerous Cultural Traditions

Rouketopolemos

Photo Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Rouketopolemos or “rocket war” is a local Easter tradition in the town of Vrontados in Chios, Greece. At midnight before Easter Sunday, two rival churches participate in firing tens of thousands of fireworks across the village in an attempt to hit the other church’s bell tower.

The two rival churches are St. Mark’s and Panaghia Ereithiani. Both churches are built on hills approximately 400 meters away from one another. Both the churches and nearby houses and buildings prepare for the event by boarding up the surrounding area with sheet metal. Although the beginnings of the tradition are unknown, it is believed to go back to the Ottoman era and was performed with real cannons.