Wash yourselves, and ye shall be clean; put away the wicked ways from your souls before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17. learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, consider the fatherless, and plead for the widow. 18. Come then, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and though they red like crimson, I will make them white as wool. 19. If then ye be willing, and obedient unto Me, ye shall eat the good of the land; 20. but if ye desire not, nor will obey me, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. (Is 1:1-20, First Monday of Great Lent, the Sixth Hour)
Of all the Christian feast days, Easter is the greatest time for foods, feasting and celebration for the people of the Orthodox Faith.The season begins with Lent Monday, or the day of Koulouma. The season of Great Lent, which is the seventh Monday before Easter is a special time. It is known as Pure Monday, Ash Monday, Monday of Lent or (in Cyprus only) Green Monday and actually translated as such, as well as is the first day of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Great Lent. It is a movable feast that occurs in the beginning of 7th week before Easter Sunday.
For citizens in Greece and Cyprus, Lent Monday is a national holiday and one of the most festive days of the year. It is usually celebrated with outdoors excursions, seafood consumption and other non-meat products and then many take part in the custom of flying a kite.
Marked as the beginning of the spring season, Lent Monday is the beginning of the great fast before Easter and as such follows specific rules. For instance, if you want to celebrate Lent Monday "a la Greek" then you must head to a local Greek bakery and buy some Lagana bread (a flat bread which is made only today), then head by a Greek delicatessen and ask for some ready made tarama salad (carp or cod roe salad), a generous portion of halva (Greek traditional sweet made with tahini, sugar, cacao and nuts which is rich in protein, carbohydrates and unsaturated fats), a few olives (everyone knows what these are) and some toursi (pickles of every sort)! Then head to your fish market and shop to your heart's content... just remember fish is a no-no, prefer seafood such as octopus: kalamarakia (Greek Squid), mussels, oysters, kidonia (local shelled food), sea urchins, conches, shrimps, crabs, and if you have a fat wallet why not lobster!!!
Of course the beverage of the day is wine or ouzo which compliments all the shellfish, but remember do not drink and drive!
Every part of Greece has its own traditions but one of our favorite ones is fun and very, VERY, messy. It is similar to Spain's tomato war, but uses flour as its main ingredient. It is called the alevromoutzouromata (or the flour wars) and it takes place in Galaxidi. The coastal town, which is located in central Greece, turns into a a bakers battlefield and everyone who is anyone flings flour at each other! Locals are divided into groups and basically whip each other to pieces with colored flour! The result: Galaxidi is immediately converted into the most colorful and certainly the most dusty town in the world!
Considering the awful weather it looks more like they will be making enormous quantities of papier-mâché in Galaxidi today instead of enjoying a good old fashioned flour war, and this is because an icy cold front has covered most of the Greek mainland bringing heavy rains with it.
Nonetheless, nothing will weigh down our “meraki” (zeal and passion for celebrating life)….
What ever has?
Kala koulouma, and Kali mas sarakosti everyone
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