Editing Crete (section)

==Culture==
{{Main|Culture of Greece}}
{{See also|Cretan School|Cretan literature|Music of Crete|Cretan cuisine}}

Crete has its own distinctive [[Mantinada|Mantinades]] poetry. The island is known for its Mantinades-based [[Music of Crete|music]] (typically performed with the [[Lyra (Cretan)|Cretan lyra]] and the [[laouto]]) and has many indigenous dances, the most noted of which is the [[Pentozali]]. Since the 1980s and certainly in the 1990s onwards there has been a proliferation of cultural associations that teach dancing (in Western Crete where many focus on [[Rizitika|rizitiko]] singing). These associations often perform in official events but also become stages for people to meet and engage in traditional practices. The topic of tradition and the role of cultural associations in reviving it is often debated throughout Crete.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kalantzis |first1=Konstantinos |title=Tradition in the Frame Photography, Power, and Imagination in Sfakia, Crete |date=2019 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-03713-8 |pages=153–178}}</ref>

Cretan authors have made important contributions to [[Greek literature]] throughout the modern period; major names include [[Vikentios Kornaros]], creator of the 17th-century epic romance ''[[Erotokritos]]'' (Greek Ερωτόκριτος), and, in the 20th century, [[Nikos Kazantzakis]]. In the Renaissance, Crete was the home of the [[Cretan School]] of icon painting, which influenced [[El Greco]] and through him subsequent European painting.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Island's Culture |url=https://activecrete.gr/islands-culture/ |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=Active Crete |language=en-US}}</ref>

Cretans are proud of their island and customs, and men often don elements of traditional dress in everyday life: knee-high black riding boots (''stivania''), [[Breeches#Types of breeches|''vráka'' breeches]] tucked into the boots at the knee, black shirt and black headdress consisting of a fishnet-weave kerchief worn wrapped around the head or draped on the shoulders (''mantili'' / ''kefalomantilo''). Men often grow large mustaches as a mark of pride, manhood and valiance.

Cretan society is known in Greece and internationally for family and clan [[feud|vendettas]] which persist on the island to date.<ref name="feud">Brian Murphy: [https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19990114/2938763/vendetta-victims-people-a-village----cretes-cycle-of-blood-survives-the-centuries Vendetta Victims: People, A Village – Crete's 'Cycle Of Blood' Survives The Centuries]  at ''[[The Seattle Times]]'', 14 January 1999.</ref><ref>Aris Tsantiropoulos: {{cite web |url= http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/journal/issue%202.1/Tsantiropoulos_Article_final%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.pdf |title= Collective Memory and Blood Feud: The Case of Mountainous Crete |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120331102316/http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/journal/issue%202.1/Tsantiropoulos_Article_final%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.pdf |archive-date= 31 March 2012 |df= dmy-all }}&nbsp;{{small|(254&nbsp;KB)}}, ''Crimes and Misdemeanours'' 2/1 (2008), [[University of Crete]].</ref> Cretans also have a tradition of keeping firearms at home, stemming from the era of resistance against the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Nearly every rural household on Crete has at least one unregistered gun.<ref name="feud"/> Guns are subject to strict regulation from the Greek government, and in recent years an effort to control firearms in Crete has been undertaken by the Greek police, but with limited success.

<gallery class="center" widths="200" heights="180">
File:Sfakia-dance.jpg|Dancers from [[Sfakia]]
File:Koukouvagia.jpg|[[Dakos]], traditional Cretan appetizer. Paximadi (hard bread) topped with fresh tomato, [[feta]] cheese, [[oregano]], and [[olives]] drizzled with olive oil.
</gallery>

===Sports===
Crete has many football clubs playing in the local leagues. During the 2011–12 season, [[OFI Crete]], which plays at [[Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium]] (Iraklion), and [[Ergotelis F.C.]], which plays at the [[Pankritio Stadium]] (Iraklion) were both members of the [[Superleague Greece|Greek Superleague]]. During the 2012–13 season, OFI Crete, which plays at [[Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium]] (Iraklion), and [[Platanias F.C.]], which plays at the Perivolia Municipal Stadium, near Chania, are both members of the [[Superleague Greece|Greek Superleague]].