Meet Shrek and, ehm, his girlfriend.
The carnival week has just started here in Greece. People wear masks or costumes and celebrate. On Thursday afternoon, they have what is called Tsiknopempti (Τσικνοπέμπτης, literally Burnt Thursday, it is Greek equivalent of Fat Tuesday) where people had massive barbecue to prepare for the carnival. Unfortunately, I don’t have any picture for the barbecue. The word Carnival itself has Latin origin which means saying good bye to meat (carni = meat, vale = good bye; remember carnivore?).
The origin of Greek carnival tradition can also be traced back to Ancient Greek tradition. They said that it was for honouring the God of Wine, Dionysus. That’s why the Greek Orthodox church, the majority, seemed not too happy with the celebration. Nonetheless, old and young people were celebrating on Thursday night. The carnival is also related to Easter and one of my professors said that for forty days before Easter the Greek (at least the religious ones) fast by not eating meat or drinking alcohol.
In Thessaloniki, they held a live performance stage in Aristotle Square. They put lots of light decoration. I went there with MF (India, but he stayed in New Zealand for quite a while). We met lots of people wearing costumes like it was Halloween. Finally, we met several other classmates: MDM (Argentina), JJP (Guatemala), SEK (Ethiopia, but he lived and worked in Canada), CAB (Ecuador), DP (Russia), AJGM (Honduras), LGK (Cameroon). I also met their friends: Claudia (Germany), Hazel (? Sieru’s friend), and two other guys living with C and D (I forgot their name). Having snatched a golden wig, I think I could be the Evil Good Twin of Carlos Valderrama. Don’t you think so?
I wonder what’s the food on the cafeteria will be like when the fasting period starts.
