Schools of Nenita – Tsiknopempti

The school and kindergarten of Nenita celebrated a very special day on 16 February 2017 and we became part of a Greek tradition called Τσικνοπέμπτη (Tsiknopempti). The literal translation is “Thursday of the Smoke of Grilled Meat” and it is part of the three weeks of carnival. What happened? Well, some locals brought a barbecue to the school and made souvlaki for all the children and teachers. The air was filled with the smell of grilled meat and you could hear children laughing happily all around you. Some say that this day was only invented to have an excuse to eat a lot of meat – but no matter if this is true or not, we are glad it was invented.

Everybody looked forward to this celebration for weeks and some children were so excited, they woke up really early. In the classroom the students couldn’t really focus on doing anything and when the bell finally rang, they ran outside while screaming “Souvlaki!”. The kindergarten teachers and us participated in the spirit of carnival with our handmade costumes – spider hats.

We had a lot of fun – if only someone would think of a celebration like that in our native countries!

To see all the pictures go into our gallery!