Carnival is a very special time in Greece. It is a three weeklong period that belongs to the Easter festival. So it is a religious event with an old tradition. The whole period is called “Apokries” which means abstention of meat because it ends with the 48 days long fasting season in which you quit eating meat and other animal products to clean soul and body as a preparation for the Easter festival. This year Carnival was from the 9th of Februrary till the 2nd of March.
In the first week the Carnival time gets declared. All the shops start to decorate their windows with colorful ornaments and the streets of the city get adorned with beautiful lights. A happy and positive flair gets created by this. The big Carnival party of the 3rd primary school and the 3rd kindergarten of Vrontados was also during this first week. On Sunday the 9th of Februrary they hosted a big party in the Charma which is a large hall for events near the airport. Everyone came dressed in costumes, and they had a DJ who provided a great atmosphere. The children had lots of fun dancing to the music and playing games while the parents chatted to their friends and enjoyed some nice snacks. There was also the opportunity to buy lottery tickets for a tombola and actually one of us volunteers was lucky and won a coupon for a free coffee and cheese pie at a local bakery. For us it was a really fun Sunday and a great chance to get another insight into the Greek culture.
“Kreatini” is the second week and it is the week of meat. High point of this week is the “Tsiknopemti” the Thursday where families come together to do barbecues and to enjoy a lot of meat because after this day you aren`t allowed to eat meat anymore. We were in Xanthi during this week at the Midterm-Training and Xanthi is actually famous for its big carnival celebrations. There are organized events almost every day on a big stage in the main square on which we got to see a presentation of traditional dances with live music, and we also saw parts of the big parade for the children. It was really nice to visit a different city in Greece during the period of carnival because all the streets and shops were decorated so pretty and people were overall in a really good mood.
In the third week and last week which is called “Tyrini” people are still allowed to eat cheese before the season finally ends with the “Kathari Deftera” which is the first day of the fasting season. In the following 48 days you are not allowed to eat any kind of animal products like meat, milk or eggs. Through this fasting your body and your soul are cleared and ready for the Easter festival. The “Kathari Deftera” is a national holiday and it is celebrated with outdoor excursions and family picnics. On the Friday of this week were the carnival parties at the schools. So the children were allowed to come in their costumes and we played games the whole day and eat some delicious snacks. We volunteers tried our best to improvise some nice costumes and the children really appreciated our effort. It was another really fun day and it will always be a great memory for us!
Overall the carnival season was a great experience and a nice opportuniy to get a new insight into the Greek culture. We all enjoyed it and had lot`s of fun! As I already said it will always be an awesome memory for us.
To see all pictures, go to our gallery!
