A large strawberry with a Christmas hat has been put up in a central area of Derynia municipality in light of the coming holidays.

About a year after Cyprus went viral when Xylophagou installed a four-metre potato sculpture, another village decided to promote its own traditional product.

Derynia, a village in the southeast of Cyprus known for strawberry cultivation, has decorated a gigantic red strawberry with a Santa Claus hat this year, a few weeks before a Christmas village is expected to be set up in the area.

“Our aim is to promote local products and the tradition of our land. Strawberries make us famous locally and abroad,” Mayor Andros Karayiannis told the Cyprus Mail on Thursday, a day after the holiday monument was installed near Panayia chapel.

The decision for the creation of the piece was taken after the deputy ministry of tourism selected the village among the rural areas where a Christmas village will be set up. Starting November 25, small wooden stalls selling local foods and handicraft will operate at the village. A series of cultural events and nature activities will also be held.

derynia strawberry 3

The strawberry, installed at the same space where the Christmas village will be held, is standing on a platform decorated with small Christmas trees and fake snow surrounded by a low red fence.

“But we are not done yet,” Karayiannis said. Fairy lights will be added to create a Christmas atmosphere and a carpet will be laid out under the statue where small houses will be installed for children to play in.

These additions are expected by mid-November according to the mayor.

He added that after the holidays, the strawberry will be used during the strawberry festival next year.

Organised every two years, the festival attracts thousands of visitors to the village. However, the latest festival was held in 2018, due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To compensate, Derynia will hold a strawberry festival in 2023 and 2024, the mayor said.

The Famagusta village is responsible for over 60 per cent of strawberry production in Cyprus, with the popular fruit growing almost all-year round at the area.