“Shrove Monday”, better known in Greece as
“Clean Monday”, was celebrated throughout the east Mediterranean country on Monday, March 7, 2011. The religious holiday marks the first day of the “Great Lent”, and is often considered as the unofficial beginning of spring, although frigid temperatures and snow in most of the north of Greece dampened any hopes of an early spring. Family picnics replete with Lenten meals, kite-flying and an array of local traditions and feasts take place throughout Greece and Cyprus. Thessaloniki residents are pictures at the northern city's Seich-sou Park flying kites.by S. Barbaroussis
source: ANA-MPA
