Primary School of Pteleos, Greece

Carnival in Greece and the whole world is a period of fun and entertainment! People feel like having fun during the Carnival, as it is celebrated forty days before Easter, when Orthodox Christians fast and mourn for Christ’s sufferings.

Some of the traditions still followed in Thessaly are the following:

Dressing-up Lighting fires Dancing

gaitanaki Flying a kite on

Clean Monday

Koudounati in Skiros Island, Greece

During the Carnival people, all dressed-up, celebrate in the streets and in the

central town squares. They

dance, sing and drink wine.

Dressed-up people bear different

names in different places in Greece:

“koudounati”, “kamouzeles”,

“mouskari”.

The celebration and the dressing-up resemble

the ancient Greek celebrations in honor of

Dionysus, the god of grape, harvest,

winemaking and wine (Greek mythology).

However, this tradition precedes the one

related to Dionysus. Dressing up and having

fun was part of a religious process of the ancient farmers, who

thought they were casting a spell on the fertility of their fields!

: CARNIVAL FIRES Carnival fires are lit all over Greece on the

last Sunday of the Carnival period, right before Clean Monday. Mainly young people make sure that they have enough cedar

brunches and yew, in order to light a big fire. In some cities

people burn the King of the Carnival, a

handmade image / doll of a funny

character.

There was some kind of a competition in the past! Each neighbourhood was trying to light the biggest fire! People jumped over the fire flames to send away everything

evil and get more power!

GAΪTANAKI, A TRADITIONAL CARNIVAL DANCE

Gaitanaki is an ancient dance which originates

from the ancient Frigia (in northern-central Turkey). People back then were decorating trees with

flowers, wreaths, bells, ribbons as well as fruit coming from Mother

Earth. They were holding the ribbons and dancing around the tree, showing their joy and happiness.

The ribbons hanging from the tree used to represent the warm sun rays. Nowadays, people use a wooden pole in place of the tree for this dance. There are 12 dancers holding the ribbons and one who is holding the pole.

The twelve dancers symbolize the 12 months of the year. Men and women dance, knitting a wonderful braid on the wooden pole. This dance represents the circle of life and the changes that occur in it. Seasons come and go, the weather changes, emotions vary … We move from happiness to sadness, from winter to spring, from life to death and the opposite!

The ‘Pepper’ song Pepper used to be one of the most favourite

spices of Byzantine people.

Merchants used to carry sacks full of pepper beans coming from Asia, so they were asking for a lot of money to sell it. Monasteries of the times, which were also trading goods, decided to start ordering pepper and sell it as pepper powder. Of course it would be sold in a much

higher price!

The ‘Pepper’ song However, the monks had a difficulty in

working with the pepper beans, as pepper powder was always in their noses and eyes! For this reason, they used to hire children. Unfortunately, children also could not work with the pepper beans for long. Consequently, powdering the pepper beans became the punishment for the monks who misbehaved! Whenever a monk had done something wrong, all the other monks would have said: “Now you’ll see how pepper powder is made”!

The ‘Pepper’ song lyrics How do the monks

powder the pepper beans?They powder them using their kneeand they sift them carefully.

How do the monkspowder the pepper beans?They powder them using their noseand they sift them carefully.

How do the monkspowder the pepper beans?They powder them using their backand they sift them carefully.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkvale/2604498111

FLYING A KITE On Clean Monday, the day that follows the

end of the Carnival celebrations, the Greek sky gets filled with colourful ‘birds’, meaning the kites! This day marks the beginning of the fasting period. Religious people do not eat meat and dairy products for 40 days, until Easter comes.

Kites were also used in ancient Greece. According to

popular belief, kites have been invented by the

Eastern people. They used to be decorated with wishes that were written on the kite and flown as closer to God as possible! They also used to decorate them with small

recorders that were producing a sound that was thought to send away the

evil spirits!

ENJOY THE CARNIVAL!ENJOY THE CARNIVAL!