{"id":5343,"date":"2020-03-12T15:14:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T15:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4youth.gr\/?p=5343"},"modified":"2020-03-12T15:15:01","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T15:15:01","slug":"carnival-celebrations-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4youth.gr\/index.php\/2020\/03\/12\/carnival-celebrations-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Carnival Celebrations 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carnival is a very special\ntime in Greece. It is a three weeklong period that belongs to the\nEaster festival. So it is a religious event with an old tradition.\nThe whole period is called \u201cApokries\u201d which means abstention of\nmeat because it ends with the 48 days long fasting season in which\nyou quit eating meat and other animal products to clean soul and body\nas a preparation for the Easter festival. This year Carnival was from\nthe 9th<\/sup> of Februrary till the 2nd<\/sup> of March. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first week the\nCarnival time gets declared. All the shops start to decorate their\nwindows with colorful ornaments\nand the streets of the city get adorned with beautiful lights. A\nhappy and positive flair gets created by this. The big\nCarnival party of the 3rd<\/sup> primary school and the 3rd<\/sup>\nkindergarten of Vrontados was also during this first week. On Sunday\nthe 9th<\/sup> of Februrary they hosted a big party in the Charma\nwhich is a large hall for events near the airport. Everyone came\ndressed in costumes, and they had a DJ who provided a great\natmosphere. The children had lots of fun dancing to the music and\nplaying games while the parents chatted to their friends and enjoyed\nsome nice snacks. There was also the opportunity to buy lottery\ntickets for a tombola and actually one of us volunteers was lucky and\nwon a coupon for a free coffee and cheese pie at a local bakery. For\nus it was a really fun Sunday and a great chance to get another\ninsight into the Greek culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKreatini\u201d is the\nsecond week and it is the week of meat. High point of this week is\nthe \u201cTsiknopemti\u201d the Thursday where families come together to do\nbarbecues and to enjoy a lot of meat because after this day you\naren`t allowed to eat meat anymore. We were in Xanthi during this\nweek at the Midterm-Training and Xanthi is actually famous for its\nbig carnival celebrations. There are organized events almost every\nday on a big stage in the main square on which we got to see a\npresentation of traditional dances with live music, and we also saw\nparts of the big parade for the children. It was really nice to visit\na different city in Greece during the period of carnival because all\nthe streets and shops were decorated so pretty and people were\noverall in a really good mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the third week and last\nweek which is called \u201cTyrini\u201d people are still allowed to eat\ncheese before the season finally ends with the \u201cKathari Deftera\u201d\nwhich is the first day of the fasting season. In the following\n48 days you are not allowed to eat any kind of animal products like\nmeat, milk or eggs. Through this fasting your body and your soul are\ncleared and ready for the Easter festival. The \u201cKathari Deftera\u201d\nis a national holiday and it is celebrated with outdoor excursions\nand family picnics. On the Friday of this week were the carnival\nparties at the schools. So the children were allowed to come in their\ncostumes and we played games the whole day and eat some delicious\nsnacks. We volunteers tried our best to improvise some nice costumes\nand the children really appreciated our effort. It was another really\nfun day and it will always be a great memory for us! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall the carnival\nseason was a great experience and a nice opportuniy to get a new\ninsight into the Greek culture. We all enjoyed it and had lot`s of\nfun! As I already said it will always be an awesome memory for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n