With kites in the sky, “opulent” even though fasting dishes and the revival of customs lost over the centuries, Greeks celebrated the Καθαρή Δευτέρα or Κούλουμα, that is Clean Monday that marks the beginning of the 40-day Lent before Easter.
Clean Monday is the first day of the Lent and Christians begin their physical and spiritual purification It is the day, Greek Orthodox Christians clean their body and mind purification through the great Easter fast.
The King and queen of Clean Monday: taramosalata – fish roe dip – and Lagana, the unleaved bread covered with sesame seeds.
Thus, by fasting they cleanse our body and soul, and according to some legacy, “by flying a kite we come even mentally closer to God.”
Family Clean Monday table – My late father once complained “There are 11 different dishes here! But where is my beans salad?””
However, I find it very characteristic for the Greek Orthodox Christians the rich tables on these particular day, where all kinds of cooked, grilled or raw sea food (squid, cuttlefish, octopus, shrimps, crayfish, all kinds of shellfish, mussels), are consumed together with a variety of dips and salads and other greens, beans without oil and sweets as well as large portions of alcohol are being consumed.
Some recipes you can find HERE on KTG
Greeks must be the only Christians who start the Lent with sooo much food and are near ‘death by cholesterol’ for the weeks to come.
Lagana always cut by hand and not by knife. Don’t ask me why! I have no idea.
Of course, music and dance are also a must.
It used to be a celebration traditionally held outdoors, where families and friends used to go to the hills or beaches -my family, for example! – and enjoy the day until the sunset.
Kites appeared in the sky early on Monday to the joy of young and old.
In Athens, locals flocked to the hills of Filopappou and Lycabettus or to the beaches to enjoy their fancy kites climbing up in the sky.
Many municipalities including these of Athens and Thessaloniki organized events with music and offered to visitors the basic lenten dishes like taramosalata, beans, olives, halva and lagana, an unleavened bread covered with sesame.
Outside the urban centers, customs going back to the occupation by the Ottoman empire or even further back to Ancient Greek celebrations mostly dedicated to Dionysos.
However, not everybody returned home in joy. A man who tried to fly a kite at Veikou Park in Athens fell from a rock 7 meters down. It needed the help of rescuers from the Fire Service to be evacuated from the cliff.
The 27-year-old man was reportedly transported injured with ambulance to the nearest hospital.
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Way too many holidays in Greece
Check your calendar folks, it’s 48 days of fasting. The first 40 days lead up to the Friday before Palm Sunday. They represent the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. The remaining 8 days up to Easter Saturday are also fast days but for different reasons. The Saturday commemorates Lazarus being raised from the dead, the Sunday Jesus entering Jerusalem and Monday to Saturday the arrest, trial, torture, death and rising of Jesus.
we call it ’40 days’ to not scare believers it’s normally 48.
Why everyone juest leaves kites with 50 meter lines, laying in open fields? It is hazard for animals, cyclicts, cars… Perfect trap to get tangled into! Greeks are nation of garbage people and animal abusers!