Holidays: Clean Monday and Great Lent

In Orthodoxy, the first day of Lent is called Clean Monday, which in Greek is Καθαρά Δευτέρα (kahth-are-AH dhef-TAIR-ah).  In Greece, the Clean Monday tradition is to take a picnic and kites into the hills and make a day of it.  Sadly, this year's weather was too cold and wet for a picnic, but the wind was great for kite flying! (We have some sickies in the house, so we were indoors regardless.) And also, sadly, I didn't get any lagana.  Next year...

I didn't notice how very blurry this photo was until I wanted to post it tonight, which was too late to snap a new one.

We have just entered the season of Lent, or, in Greek, the Forty Days (Σαρακοστή).  There's something marvelous about being in an Orthodox country during a holy period; there's a sense of solidarity, whether people are fasting or not.  When B went out for patatopites last night, he was asked if he wanted them with or without tzatziki.  And the flier above is advertising a sale on Lenten fare(and Ouzo).  Indeed, all of the stores have had sales and major Lenten promotions in the past couple of weeks.  It feels like a huge pat on the back of encouragement, honestly!

Have a good Lent, everyone!