GALAXIDI, Greece (AP) — For a few hours on a single day every year, the prim and elegant Greek seaside town of Galaxidi explodes into frantic childishness. Riotous groups of residents pelt each other — and unsuspecting visitors — with bags of dyed flour, in a Holi-like end-of-carnival tradition thought to date back to the town's period of maritime glory more than a century ago. Revelers take a brake as they celebrate Clean Monday with a flour war, a unique colorful flour fight marking the end of the carnival season in the port town of Galaxidi, some 200 kilometers west of Athens, Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) The flour fight, on the coastal road lining Galaxidi's old harbor, takes place on Clean Monday, the beginning of the 40-day Christian Lent fast that ends on Easter Sunday. Although Clean Monday ceremonies abound across Greece, the most common being kite-flying, Galaxidi's flour-fight is unique, and is thought to have been influenced by similar goings-on in Sicily in the 19th century. Lying about 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Athens, the town of about 1,700 people was once a major maritime power whose white-masted sailing ships plied a booming trade around the world. Local revelers celebrate "Clean Monday" with "flour war" a unique colorful flour fight marking the end of the carnival season in the port town of Galaxidi, some 200 kilometers west of Athens, on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) However, Galaxidi ship owners failed to adapt to the advent of steam power in the 19th century, and gradually declined. Its traditional stone houses, the upper floor of which was an open area dedicated to sail-repairs during the winter months, attest to its former glories. Its economic decline spared Galaxidi from the depredations of modernization that swept the country after World War II, with the town only acquiring a good road link to the rest of central Greece in the 1960s. Until then, it remained a kind of island, nominally attached to the mainland, whose outlook was always to the sea. A reveler poses during the celebrations of the Clean Monday or Ash Monday in Galaxidi on February 23, 2015. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images) A local reveler smokes a cigarette as she celebrate Clean Monday with a flour war, a unique colorful flour fight marking the end of the carnival season in the port town of Galaxidi, some 200 kilometers west of Athens, Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A reveler participates in a flour war during the celebrations of the Clean Monday or Ash Monday in the town of Galaxidi on February 23, 2015. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images) Local revelers dance to a traditional Greek song as they celebrate Clean Monday with a flour war, a unique colorful flour fight marking the end of the carnival season in the port town of Galaxidi, some 200 kilometers west of Athens, on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Local revelers celebrate Clean Monday with a flour war, a unique colorful flour fight marking the end of the carnival season in the port town of Galaxidi, some 200 kilometers west of Athens, on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Local revelers celebrate Clean Monday with a flour war, a unique colorful flour fight marking the end of the carnival season in the port town of Galaxidi, some 200 kilometers west of Athens, on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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