A Little About Carnival in Greece

The Tradition of Apokries / Karnavali

(Apokries may also be spelled Apokreas, Apokrias)

In Greece the Carnival started in Ancient times, believed to be as a worship to Dionysos, the God of Wine and Feast.  In the Orthodox tradition Apokries is the preparation period before Lent. Apokries means literally saying goodbye to meat  - Apoxh apo kreas -  apo-kreas.  In Latin the roots of the word Carnival has the same meaning - 'carne' is meat and 'vale' goodbye.

Apokries runs for three weeks immediately preceding Lent.

First Week of Apokries 

Apokries starts with the opening of the book of the Triodion, the 3 holy sacraments.

Second Week- Meat week

Officially the last week of eating meat until after Lent.

Tsiknopempti - Thursday of meat week - Tsikna is the smell of burning meat. It was the custom on Tsikonpempti for everyone to charcoal grill meat and to melt fat over it so the smell of  'burning' meat permeated whole villages.

It is still the tradition to eat meat on Tsiknopempti, although nowadays it is usual to go to a taverna for the meat feast. You'll find that tavernas everywhere are packed and many have live music too.

Third Week -  Cheese Week

This week was also called 'White Week'  as  people ate mostly dairy products an
eggs. Meat was forbidden from Monday of cheese week  until after Lent. Many 
people still adhere to this.

Women never washed their hair during this week as it was said it would turn white 
if they did.

Carnival weekend
The final day of Apokries is also the last day until after Easter that church weddings  are allowed to take place. The Orthodox Church still follows the tradition that no weddings or celebrations can take place during the 50 days of Lent.

The old tradition says don't get married on this day; if you do it will be an unhappy marriage!

~taken from LivingCrete.net

Clean Monday:

Kathari Deftera is considered a very important feast all over Greece, It is the first day of the 7th week before the Orthodox Easter.

At a special service all present bow down before one another and ask for forgiveness. In this way we begin the Great Lent with a clean conscience, forgiveness and renewed Christian love.

Clean Mondayy puts an end to the preceding Carnival celebrations, inviting all Orthodox Christians to leave behind the sinful attitudes associated with Carnival festivities and non-fasting foods, which were largely consumed during the three weeks of the Carnival.

The feast, which is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus, is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish, other sea food and other fasting foods, as well as the widespread custom of flying kites.