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Today’s events are slowly coming to an end, APOKRIES….. the Zakynthian spirit was kept alive and through many who attended the Carnival, a blessing that our traditions are still kept alive.
Kathara Devtera = Καθαρά Δευτέρα
Tomorrow is the first official day of Great Lent. It is a day which starts the ‘saracosti’ meaning the 40 day period when Greek Orthodox fast. You will hear the words ‘kronia polla kai kali sarakosti’ as Zakynthians wish all to be well through this period. This feast is a movable feast as it is tied to Easter, the beginning of the 7th week, actually starting tonight at the church’s service starting with forgiveness. The theme of Clean Monday or Pure Monday, is set by the Old Testament reading appointed to be read at the Sixth Hour on this day (Isaiah 1:1-20), which says in part:
‘Wash yourselves and ye shall be clean; put away the wicked ways from your souls before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, consider the fatherless, and plead for the widow. Come then, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, I will make them white as wool (v. 16-18)..
Because of lent and the lead up to Easter no meats, dairy, fish, poultry or dishes that are prepared with these foods can be eaten. Shellfish can be eaten, however three days a week are meatless days during the remaining weeks of the fast. During Holy Week complete fasting is to take place. Palm Sunday, which is the first day of the Holy Week, is a day when only fish and fish courses are served. However, I will keep you informed as time draws closer to Easter.
Long ago in order to count the days before Easter, people used to draw Mrs.Sarakosti. They didn’t put a mouth on her face because she represented the 7 weeks fast period before Easter. Her hands are tangled because of the many prayers. She used to have seven legs, one for each week of the Sarakosti. Each Saturday they cut one leg off her. Thus the last leg being the Holy week.
Zakynthos wanting to a wee bit different from the rest of Greece has her own way of doing Mrs Lent. So, apart from many others, on the first day of Lent, we do not, make a diary of the period nor make a nun with seven legs, as elsewhere, but seven different nuns, one for each week. Each nun holds the symbols relating to each Sunday through the period of Great Lent. The first, for example, an image (of Orthodoxy), The third (the Cross), the flowers a symbol for the The Seven Islands and we all know that our beloved Zakynthos is full of flowers this time of year, the violets, the sixth (Palm Sunday), a Vayia. The first six all wear black but the seventh one will be dressed in red dipicting the Holy week ahead.They are usually placed somewhere to be seen and every new week when someone passes by they turn the nun on to the corresponding nun for that week, the step is continued so that on Holy Saturday it is completed.
Other traditions that start on Kathara Devtera is known as the ‘Koulouma’ where Greeks will prepare traditional food based on Lent, the most popular being taramosalata (fish roe salad), octopus and prawns, as shellfish is allowed and of course the lagana, a flat, oval shaped special type of bread only made for Kathara Deutera. In most homes Octopus with macaroni in tomatoe sauce is a favourite another is cuttlefish with spinch or wild greens. It is to be served with the day’s delights. Halvas is a sweet that must be set on the table as well. This day is to be celebrated with love ones and it usually means picnicking, weather allowing.
Kites are a must, although there is no exact evidence as to how kites became a tradition on this day. Some claim it has Asian origins, and wishes would be written on their kites so that the gods could grant them.
While there are suggestions that the ancient Greek 
mathematician Archytas of Tarentum (440-360 BC) was the first to design and use a kite in his aerodynamics experiments, and there is also evidence from pottery dating back to the classical period showing a young woman holding a kite. Wherever it came from, Greeks still continue to keep this tradition.
Thank you goes to my friend Dionysios Flemetomos who over the years has given me guidance on our traditions.
