It's Carnival Time! Clean Monday
On Saturday, March 16, 2024, from 11:00 a.m., the 13th edition of the project initiated by the Romanian Hellenic Union with the title: "It's Carnival Time! Clean Monday - Καθαρά Περική".
THE CLEAN MOON (KATHARA DEFTERA or TA KOULOUMA) is the first day of Lent (Sarakosti), the 7-week period before Holy Easter and it follows a three-week Carnival period, known in Greece as Apokries.
On this first day of Lent, Christians begin physical and spiritual cleansing. They go out into nature to fly kites that symbolize the soul rising to the sky to be closer to God. And the higher the kite flies, the more God hears their prayers.
On the day of Kathara Deftera they use to eat tarama, halva, vegetables, seafood, bean soup and especially "lagana", meaning unleavened bread, an unleavened bread that represents the food that the Israelites ate on the night of their exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses.
