Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is celebrated in September and marks the beginning of the ten days of Repentance or Terrible Days of Yamim Noraim. The ten-day period ends with the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, which Jews of Ioannina call simply Kippur or High Day. A town crier would walk the streets of the Jewish quarter two or three hours before dawn, shouting, 'Time for Selihot.'
This was how he called the men of the community to the Synagogue at 06.00 for the Prayers of Repentance.
The tashlih, or symbolic depositing of sins in the lake to the accompaniment of rabbinical psalms, is the most dramatised part of Rosh Hashanah celebrations. Christian townspeople of Ioannina often used to attend celebrations of Jewish New Year. Sometimes local officials also came to watch and share the joy of their Jewish fellow citizens.
