Chios Vrontados

Vrontados (Greek: Βροντάδος) is a small coastal town located at the eastern part of the island of Chios in Greece. With a population of about 4,500 the town hosts the seat of the municipality of Omiroupolis.
The town has a strong tradition in merchant seafaring and is currently the home of various important Greek ship owners. Also Vrontados is well known for its unique Easter celebration known as rouketopolemos (rocket war). Due to its proximity to the city of Chios (the island's capital), modern Vrontados is considered a sort of a suburb of the capital. Vrontados purportedly gets its name from the loud noise thunder (Vrontes - Βροντές) makes as it echoes from the nearby mountain, Aepos.

Rocket Wars

Every Easter, the Eastern Orthodox churches, Agios Marcos and Erithiani, fire rockets at each other. Whoever hits the other church's bell tower first wins the war.