Greek Shaolin Cultural Organization
少林希腊文化組织

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The Festival, where the cultural events of every year are completed, is the established Mygdonia festival, which this year took place for the 8th consecutive year and for the 4th consecutive year with participants from abroad. This is an event that members, male students, female students and masters of the Greek Shaolin Federation, wait with great anticipation, and meet with all the other EPOS Shaolin Cultural Centers to share together new hopes and reminisce earlier times, filled with Shaolin teaching and culture.

The 4th International and 8th Martial Arts Festival Mygdonia, was held this year on Saturday, the 21st (17:00) and Sunday, the 22nd (9:00 a.m.) November 2015, at the sports center of Lagyna in Lagada Municipality, in cooperation with the Greek Martial Arts Federation, the A.S.G.A.G.S.K. Mygdonia and the Municipality of Lagada and the radiant presence of EPOS and the Shaolin Cultural Centers, from throughout the country.

On Saturday November 21, at 5 pm started the first part of the event of the 4th International Martial Arts Festival. In the crowded stage of Lagyna, the audience of Thessaloniki and Northern Greece, had arrived to enjoy the rich spectacle of all kinds of martial arts, that presented 80 associations and unions, with more than 800 participants. Three separate areas were formed, racing fields [arenas] were placed to accommodate fighting arts such as kickboxing, MMA, etc. Karate arts and kung Fu arts, respectively. In the area of ​​Chinese martial arts, the responsibility and supervision, in accordance with EOPT regulations, is held by the masters of the Greek Shaolin Federation and EPOS who are judges, referees, secretariat and organization committee.

At the Kung Fu platform, the first part was a display presence of students and groups, while at the second part the presence was rated according to skill, difficulty and age criteria. The event was completed smoothly at 9pm, with medals and commemorative diplomas.

On Sunday, November 22, 2015, the second and last part of events started at 9am at the indoor stadium of Lagyna, with the presentation of all the masters and the awarding of honorary boards. The welcome greeting was held by the Deputy Mayor of Lagadas, Mr Koutlianos Nikolaos and afterwards, President of EOPT presented the annual journal of the Federation, which is distributed free of charge and includes review and assessment of the projects and the events of EOPT, for this year.

For the first time in the big Greek Shaolin family, participated the newly established group of Rou Quan in Thessaloniki, with Mavridou Sophia, Paipati Xrisi, Dimitriadou Fevronia, Dimitriadou Polyxeni, Radovic Adriana, Naoumaki Peio and Fidani Raphael, led by Sifu Vassilopoulos Ioannis who presented soft fist skills [chin .: shǎolín róuquán gōngfǎ 少林 柔 拳 功 法].

The festival ended with a highly impressive display of the EPOS Masters demostration team, with Antari Constantina, Stavridou Alexandra, Galanopoulou Rachel, Banner Andrew and Katakalaio Dimitri, who presented skills from the rich cultural tradition of Shaolin.

The Director of the Athens Shaolin Cultural Center, Master Yan Kong, presented the Shaolin skill Tong Bi Chui [chin .: tōngbì chuí 通臂 捶], and immediately after Sifu Galanopoulou Rachel presented the skill Fengxunfu Shan [chin .: fēngxùnfúshàn 风驯服扇] with fan, impressing the audience with her flow. Sifu Andrew Banner presented the skill Shaolin Yilu Ruan Jian [chin .: Shàolín yīlù ruǎnjiàn 少林 一路 软 剑] with straight sword maintaining the enthusiasm of the public. Then masters, Stavridou Alexandra and Antari Konstantina presented an extraordinary spectacle of Shaolin Kung Fu skills both individually and collectively, thus completing a beautiful and constructive weekend for everyone involved in the EPOS mission in this Festival.