The Church of St. John, also known as Ai-Yiannis, is located in Voulismeni and is one of the village’s oldest churches.
It is a single-aisled church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Its existence is already recorded in the 1635 census, a fact that links it to the religious and historical continuity of Voulismeni dating back to the Venetian period.
The church was renovated in 1863, retaining its place within the village and its connection to the daily lives of the residents. Like other old churches in Voulismeni, St. John is part of the village’s ecclesiastical landscape and bears witness to the enduring presence of small places of worship within its residential center.
The feast of Saint John is also associated with Klidonas, one of the old summer customs that have been preserved in Voulismeni. On the eve of St. John’s Day, bonfires were lit in the neighborhoods, and residents would jump over them in a custom celebrating joy, purification, and fellowship.
The May Day wreath, left over from May Day, was also burned in the Klidonas bonfires. Gathered around the fire, the villagers met, joked, sang, and kept alive a tradition that linked the religious festival with the cycle of nature and the community.
Mantinades held a special place in the custom. At the start of the Klidonas celebration, playful, romantic, and auspicious couplets were sung, characterized by an anticipation of each person’s «root»:
«Open the Klidonas"
so that mine comes out too,
I just can't take it anymore, man
»from my temptation."
The Church of St. John is not just an old church in Voulismeni. It is a place linked to the village’s history, faith, summer customs, the Klidonas bonfires, the mantinades, and the groups of friends who kept local traditions alive.