ΑΠΟΚΡΙΕΣ / ah PO kree ahss / Orthodox carnival
Just realized that we’re going to be here for the entirety of Greek carnival season. We skirted it last year — Orthodox Easter was really late — so Tsiknopempti happened right at the very end of our time in Lefkada. This year we’re going to be in Athens for the whole thing;
Tsiknopempti (Smoke Thursday) : Feb 20
Tyrini (Cheese Week) : starts Feb 24
Kethari Deftara (Clean Monday) : Mar 3
To explain a little more though — the Orthodox Christian calendar is different than the Roman Christian calendar, so the exact dates might not match up, but apokries is the Orthodox season right before Lent, where people get all their crazy celebrating out of the way before the fasting period that starts. Mardi Gras, Carneval, Apokries — same thing. Apokries is a gradual progression towards the fasting of Lent, probably set up to let families clean out their fridges. Eat all the meat the first week, then eat all the cheese and eggs the next week.
Evidently it gets crazy in Plaka and Psyrri. One of the articles I read said it’s common for revelers to throw confetti and bonk each other on the heads with plastic squeaky clubs. I can’t decide if that would really annoy Russ, or that Russ would really love having a plastic squeaky club.
(I am looking forward to the ankle-deep confetti.)
Clean Monday is the start of Lent — the Ash Wednesday of Orthodoxy. Reveling is over. Take a quiet day for introspection and, for some reason, fly a kite.