Carnival in Greece has lots of fun. Do you know what "Tsiknopempti" means?
Well, "Tsiknopempti" s a strange and difficult word, which consists of "tsikna" and "Pempti". By definition “tsikna” (Τσίκνα) is the smell of grilled meat in the air and Pempti (Πέμπτη) in Greek means Thursday.
Every year at school and not only, we celebrate it by having barbeque at the school yard. Despite the rainy day on the 24th of February we had a great time. We laughed and ate "Souvlakia" having lots of dance.
During this day everyone prepares and enjoys recipes with the main ingredient to be pork meat. The cloud of meat smoke is a typical thing.Tsiknopempti in English is mentioned as “Fat Thursday”, “Smoked Thursday” or “Barbeque Thursday”.
For the definition of this word and custom you have to go back to the past to find its origin. It is said that it dates back to ancient times when ancient Greeks used to prepare rich feasts as a sign of the beginning of spring and as a wish for a fertile season.
But this tradition is not just related to ancient Greece, but to the Christian Orthodox religion as well. According to the Orthodox religion, the week that Tsiknopempti is celebrated is called “Kreatini”, which in Greek means “Meat Week” and is the last week that believers can consume meat before the 40 days of fasting. 4o days of fasting before the Orthodox Easter.
February 24, 2022. Rea Kyprioti, Jiannis Stamatiadis, Yvonne Georgiadou, George Argyris.
For the Local History Reporters (2021-2022)
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