Green Monday 2022

Before I get into how we spent Green Monday (which fell on March 7th this year) in Cyprus, I have to go back a little further, to February 24th. This day is also known as Tsiknopempti, which literally means 'Thursday of the smoke of grilled meat'. It is not a public holiday, but families and friends gather to indulge in the love of meat 🥩 🍖. In many places, the grill is fired up, and while the carnivores celebrate and feast, vegetarians and vegans definitely hide in their homes. It's a last hurrah before the Green Monday or Clean Monday or Ash Monday marks the beginning of the 50-day fasting period until Easter. On this day and throughout the fasting period, Greek Orthodox Christians completely abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy products. Instead, plenty of vegetables are served. Seafood 🦐🦑🐙 is also allowed, and one thing is indispensable: lagana, the fasting bread, not unlike flatbread.

Additionally, colorful kites 🪁 are often flown with and for children on Green Monday. We also saw some kites on this day.

Since we emigrated without extended family, we joined forces with two other families and booked 10 spots for the Green Monday buffet at one of Cyprus' many farms. We were at the farm Agroktima Agios Georgios, which we had already visited when it was closed. This time, it was the full package: a festival tent, fasting food, live music - it was beautiful. The children had plenty of space and opportunities to let off steam on the playground, and before dinner, we even paid a visit to the donkeys.

Eating with 5 toddlers at the table is not really relaxing, but it worked out much better than expected. Henry and Jona were by far the pickiest eaters at the table. 🙈 Or maybe they wanted to really fast. I don't think they tried more than bread, potatoes, cucumber, apple, and nuts. On the other hand, the almost 5-year-old twin girls from our neighbors eat pretty much anything you put in front of them - I hope we'll get there too.

One particularly exciting thing, because it was completely new to me, was making Cyprus Coffee ☕️ on hot sand. It's super quick because the sand heats up quickly and stays hot for a long time, making it perfect for such festivities where everyone prepares coffee for themselves and their table neighbors. Learned something new again!