1. Grill Thursday…

2. Its that Thursday of the year again when we eat meat, a lot of meat!!!

4. Fatty meat is chosen to be cooked so that it smells while cooking. Tsiknopemti comes from the word tsikna meaning, stink, smell (cooking smell of the meat) and the word Pempti means Thursday. This day is special as all houses and neighborhoods give out the smell of delicious grilled meat.

6. Great food is always combined with nice wine! And as the glasses fill and the wine bottles empty the fun begins…

8. Singing songs… Dancing…

9. And a day for disguises

10. On this day the carnival parade will start with the entrance of the King of Carnival. All this will take place in Limassol which is the city of the carnival in Cyprus.

11. Now, if you are wondering why we eat so much meat this specific day… ? Well, the answer is simple! Soon many Christians will start preparing for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. fastingrepentance

12. Actually there are 3 weeks before Easter. During the first week religious followers can consume anything. On the 2 nd week we fast on Wednesday and on Friday. Grill Thursday is in that week, in the middle of this period. On the next week Christians can eat anything except meat. And after that, religious followers start a much more strict fasting than Christmas time.

13. The daily diet of Christians during the Easter fasting is based on vegetables, legumes, bread…The fasting lasts 50 days!