The sacred snakes of Cephalonia are celebrated annually on 15 August (the Feast of the Dormition) on Cephalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands in Western Greece.
History
The sacred snakes are celebrated in the Church of Theotokos ("Mother of Jesus"), where they are said to appear annually for the celebration of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches commemorates the "falling asleep" or death of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her bodily resurrection before being taken up into heaven.
Daniel Ogden argues in Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds (2013) that "old myth and modern tourist disinformation" make it difficult to establish history and fact.