Commercial pressures have succeeded in inflating Christmas into an event of some importance in Greece, with both shops and private dwellings displaying strings of lights, erecting Christmas trees and playing secular Christmas songs. The phenomenon is recent, having grown mainly over the past 15 years or so, and it is Easter that remains the primary event of the Orthodox calendar. It is the time when families return to their villages of origin, go to Church and eat large quantities of roast lamb on Easter Monday – although fewer and fewer families can afford to buy a whole lamb to roast on the spit as was formerly the tradition.

The run-up to Easter
Almost as important is the run-up to Easter. The period of Lent, with its fasting requirements, begins on Clean Monday or Kathara Deftera (23^rd February this year), which is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other fasting food including the unleavened flatbread called “lagana“, and the widespread custom of flying kites, which is held to be symbolic of aspirations to reach the Divine.

It is preceded by Tsiknopempti, which can be translated as Charred Thursday or Smokey Thursday, when stocks of meat are grilled and consumed at kerbside barbecues (along with quantities of beer, wine or raki), to use them up before fasting commences. The date is the second to last Thursday before the start of Lent – 12th February this year.

Carnival time

This period coincides with the Carnival season, where we are now – an outburst of partying and creativity before the austerity of Lent. The major event in Crete, the Rethymnon Carnival, lasts a full three weeks, with an opening ceremony on 1st February including a presentation of carnival costumes, traditional serenades in the streets of the city, music and street parties on Tsiknopempti and a 1 km walk/run though the city on 15^th February, all building up to the Grand Finale Weekend of 21st-22nd February. A children’s parade on Saturday 21st is followed by a Night Parade at 9.00 pm and on Sunday afternoon the Grand Parade with “dozens of floats and thousands of masqueraders” according to the organisers, ending with a firework display in the evening.

Closer to home, the opening ceremony for the 34th Chania Carnival takes place in Souda Square at 5.00 pm on Sunday 8th February, and the final parade a week later on 15th February, while the 17th Kissamos Carnival starts in Skalidi Street at 3.00 pm on Sunday 22nd February. Finally, as last year, Kolymbari is hosting the Platanias “Carnival of the Associations” – a reference to the cultural associations of the participating villages. The announcement by the Municipality of Platanias reads as follows:

The Kolymbari Carnival

The 2nd Carnival of the Associations in the Municipality of Platanias is here! For the second year running, the Cultural Associations of the Municipality of Platanias, under the sponsorship of the Municipality and the Region of Crete, will be taking part in a carnival parade in Kolymbari, on Sunday 15th February starting at 2.00 pm.

With high spirits and in a mood for partying and dancing, the 21 carnival teams invite you to join them in their revels and to experience the festive Lenten atmosphere in the municipality of Platanias! The musical direction of the carnival will be in the hands of DJs Andreas Garyfalis and Lefteris Voulgarakis, while the presenter will be Dimitris Iliakis. The parade will progress from Kolymbari Harbour to the square at the crossroads of the Old National Road, where there will be a party with lots of surprises for children and adults.

The participating teams are as follows:
– the Cultural Association of Kolymbari (Waiting for the VOAK … with cones and sympathy!)
– the Cultural Associations of Vatolakkos and Alikianos (Villages of Mousouroi!)
– the Women’s Cultural Association of Rodopou (Robin of the Trojans!)
– the Youth Cultural Association of Ravdoucha (OPEKE …BAH …!*)
– the Cultural Association of Marathokefala (Fennel head-space!)
– the Cultural Development Association of Platanias (Platanian Tomatoes!)
– the Cultural Association of Maleme (Maleminions!)
– the Touring Club of Skines (Flintstones!)
– the “Unity” Cultural Association of Spilia (Spilia pushes the boat out!)
– the Cultural and Developmental Association of Gerani (The Geraniums!)
– the Cultural Association of Tavronitis (Tauromachies in Tavronitis!)
– the Gefyra [bridge] Amateur Theatre Group (The Players!)
– the Cultural Associations of Voukolies, Neo Chorio and Neriana (Barrel Organ, Poverty and F…rappé…!**)
– the Development Association of Patelari (Alive by Mistake!)
— the Summer Vocational High School of Platanias (Stitch!)
– the “Riza” Training Association of Karanos (Wanted, Peace!)
— Kolymbari High School (Hospital for Monsters!)
— the Kolymbari Women’s Association (We’ve been painting again!)
— the Cultural Association of Vouves (Vou-Vikings!)
– the Palaiochora Carnival Association!
We are waiting for you all!!!
(www.platanias.gr)

* OPEKEPE (Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid) was the Greek government organisation hitherto responsible for managing funds from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It was shut down in 2025 following a major scandal in which substantial sums were found to have been paid out to Greek citizens, many of them not farmers, for fictitious agricultural holdings and livestock.
The scandal led to ministerial resignations, and two figures nicknamed “Frappé” and “Butcher” were reported as key players in the illegal abstraction of millions of euros in Crete. The organisation was therefore ripe for satirical reference in this year’s carnivals.
**The title is a reference to a popular 1956 comedy film with the title “Laterna, Ftocheia kai Filotimo” (Barrel organ, poverty and self-respect).