It is known for its special bright green landscape, its narrow cobbled streets lined by ranks of tiled-roof houses, the traditional architecture and its restless and religious inhabitants.

Today it has a great library, a theatre hall, a folklore museum and an active organization which tries to continue the traditions that were passed by the old inhabitants.

In Constantinople, Aghathon the Ephesian, priest of the Chapel of the Palaces, who was an iconophile, fell into the disfavour of Emperor Leo I and was self-exiled to Jerusalem.

So, he went to Constantinople and passed a firman (decree) exempting the inhabitants of Agiasos the obligation to pay taxes to the Ottoman government or to the Dignitaries of Mytilene.

The craftsmen were still working on the wood carving when suddenly, on the 6th night of August 1812, the church went up in flames in the great fire that destroyed a large section of the town.

Nonetheless, the donations which believers of Agiasos offered and the fund-raisers initiated by the Metropolite of Mytilene Callinicus and his emissaries who carried his word to the rural areas and to the opposite coasts of Asia Minor, enabled a third church, which is still standing today, to be built in 1815.

Sultan Mahmud II granted permission for the church to be built as requested by the inhabitants of Agiasos, on condition that the size of the building would not exceed that of the previous one.

Pilgrims begin arriving weeks before the 15th not only from Lesbos but from all over Greece in order to spend the first fortnight of August ("dekapentizo") in the monk cells or camp out in the churchyard.

In fact many pilgrims walk all the way to Ayasos from Mytilene and other villages on the island, admiring the scenery along the way on the warm summer night in August.

Most of the pilgrims walking to Ayasos make a stop at Karyni, in order to catch their breath and cool off under the shade of the perennial plane trees joining in the traditional festivities and merry-making.

At this point of the walking trip the more daring and determined pay special tribute to the icon of Panayia Vrefokratousa by taking the old cobblestone path called "patomeni", a shortcut through the olive groves leading to Agiasos.

This large religious celebration/market fair attracts many stall-holders who display their merchandize anywhere they can, and the shop-keepers advertise their local products such as halva, sour apples, pears as best they can, while the spicy fragrance of oregano and aromatic leaves of sage are there.

Access to the church is easiest by taking the upper entrance to the village, is found if you turn left at the crossroad leading to Megalochori.

The arrival of the icon of Our Lady and the other relics to the island on the one hand, and the foundation of the monastery on the other, contributed to transforming Agiasos into a place of pilgrimage.

However the flourishing art of ceramics in Agiasos, is slowly diminishing along with the old way of life, as a consequence of new needs society and introduction of new, more resistant materials in the market.

The unique feature of the art of pottery in Agiasos is the multitude of small objects created to serve solely ornamental purposes.

The themes portrayed on these objects are usually borrowed from the scenes of daily life in Agiasos, such as loaded donkeys, shepherds, women spinning wool, pitcher-whistles for little children – toys that whistle when water is added etc.

Once the finishing touches are added to the product eliminate all traces left by the mold, the objects are painted with colours that are true to the prototypes that they portray.

Today it retains the form it took during the post-war period, that is, a folklore event with distinct theatrical elements held in open air, creating a thematic unity combining satiric verses and carnival floats.

The folk poet does not to go about merrymaking in disguise during the festival just to amuse his audience, but seeks to inspire, to set an example, to cauterize the decayed section of the social body with the thermocautery of his fountain pen.

It tries to deal with the buffets of fate by mocking its own trials, it manages to get the society to laugh about its own farrago of sufferings, in order to be able to bear them both in body and soul and ultimately to survive.

These carnivals were bacchic festivals devoted to the worship of Dionysus, where eternal recreation, fertility and regeneration of nature during spring were exalted.

They were characterised by the dionysian orgy of those initiated to divine worship, by which it was believed achieved catharsis of the soul, spiritual renewal and the exaltation caused by perfection of unearthly life.

The carnival of today preserved relics of the bacchic perception of life such as the “tripsimata”, songs of rhyming couplets that are a hymn to the genitals and the “im’ tzouromata” of those who “archionti” (the word archiomi, is derived from the ancient Greek verb “orchoumai” which means to participate in an orcho (pool), to dance, to take part in the circle of those initiated to the Dionysian worship, whose bodies were painted with tartar, the residue of the grapes and wine, which were red).

The material covering the inner part of the legs, from the crotch to below the knee named “kalamovrakia” or “klapatses” - are longer than the middle section i.e. the seat of the (bloomers).

The bloomer leg cuffs had eyelets through which crocheted cordons called “vrakothilies” were passed, thus ensuring the pleated material fit snugly around the ankles.

Another feature of the bloomer was the puffed effect created by the “overstuffing” by two, three or more pairs of underpants, of the same or smaller size which were worn under the outer garment.

From the first decades of the 20th century, European fashion reached the villages of the island and influenced aesthetic tastes to such a degree that the local traditional garment was gradually put aside.

The higher social classes were, as one would expect, the first to forsake the traditional costume, purchasing their garments from Constantinople, Smyrna and other centres of fashion abroad.

Today even farmers’ wives who now follow the trends of fashion, wear the special bloomer (salvari) when they work in the fields during the winter.