APOCREA
Carnival is the three week period before ‘Saracosti’, (Lent) during which people stop eating meat or animal products. According to the etymological interpretation of both the Greek and the Latin terms (carne vale or apo crea) mean ‘goodbye to meat’.
The festival comes down to us from the ancient worship of Dionysus in Greece and is a time of dancing, masquerade and wine, which loosens inhibitions and brings a mellow, cheerful mood that reaches its peak a few days before people begin the long fast of Lent.
During the second week of Apokries, known as “Kreatini” (Meat Week), meat may be eaten every day, even the traditional fast days of Wednesday and Friday.
The Thursday of the second week of carnival is known as “Tsiknopempti” (Smokey Thursday). This is when the festivities begin. Traditionally, everyone must cook meat so that the smoke or “tsikna” fills the air and everybody knows it’s a feast-day. On Tsiknopempti the first masqueraders make their appearance and the first carnival parties are held. Bars, clubs and restaurants are packed and parties are 'gate-crashed by marauding revellers.
The third week is called “Tyrini” (Cheese Week) . People can eat dairy products and fish but not meat. On Sunday, men in various neighbourhoods dress up, black (or blue!) their faces and build boats from rubbish. These are dragged through the streets to the sea, where they are launched and promptly sink. The sole purpose of the exercise seems to be to get as drunk as possible whilst having a good time without the presence of women!
The Sunday before the last day of Lent, here on Skopelos the islanders still celebrate the Vlaki Wedding. The groom is a woman dressed as a man and the bride is a man dressed as a woman. A procession begins midway through the morning, with more and more people joining as it parades through the town, until everyone meets on the paralea for dancing, drinking wine and singing ribald songs.
Apokria ends on “Kathari Deftera” (Clean Monday), the first day of Lent. On Clean Monday, the “koulouma” are held. Everybody goes off to the countryside, eats Lenten food and flies kites. All their sins and unhappiness are projected onto the kite and cast to the winds, so that they may begin Lent in a cleansed state.Then the housewives wash all the grease from their kitchens, pans and utensils.
For those who fast, Lent passes very slowly. In the past, people would cut out a figure of a woman who had no mouth (because Lady Saracosti never stops fasting) and whose hands were joined together in prayer. She had seven legs, one for each week. Every Saturday they cut off one leg, the last one being removed on Saturday of Holy Week.
According to current thinking, carnival has its roots in ancient ceremonies meant to help the earth put forth shoots. The magical aid took the form of leaping dances and various kinds of folk mummery and disguise, in order to propitiate harmful spirits. Down the centuries some of the ancient ceremonies and traditions have been lost, but most have been incorporated into the Christian religion and taken on a different meaning.
In ancient Greece, the festival in honour of Dionysus took place in early Spring, as Dionysus symbolised life’s rebirth after Winter. Today, carnival is held in the same period but not on a fixed date, as it depends on the moveable feast of Easter.