In some parts of Greece on Clean Monday they "clean" what is left of the non-fasting foods of Halloween.In other parts of Greece, such as Epirus, housewives clean the pots and all copper utensils of Halloween grease with hot ash water until they glisten and paint the pavements white. Halvah, taramas, olives, pickles, seafood and bean soup are on the agenda. Lenten foods are accompanied by lagana, a kind of bread without sourdough, elliptical in shape and flattened for easy baking. Lagana appears to have been used by the Israelites on the night of their Exodus from Egypt, under the leadership of Moses. From then on, it was mandated by the Mosaic Law for all days of the Passover feast, until Christ blessed leavened bread on his last Passover. The history of the lasagna runs through the entire food tradition from antiquity to the present day. Aristophanes in 'Ecclesiastes' says 'Lagana πέtτεται', while Horace in his writings refers to lagana as 'The sweet of the poor'.
The celebration of Holy Monday in the countryside is called Koulouma. The etymology of the word is of Latin (kolumna = column or kumulus = pile, top) or Albanian origin (kolum = clean). In the Municipality of Athens, Koulouma is celebrated on Filippapou Hill, as in many municipalities of the country, with the offering of bean soup and fast foods to the citizens.
An indispensable complement to the celebration of Holy Monday is the flying of the kite, with its various colours and designs, by young and old, probably to throw away all the worries of winter, since spring is coming and everything, at least in nature, is more cheerful due to the blossoming of flowers and the improvement of the weather.
Intense foul-mouthedness and caustic satire are among the characteristics of Clean Monday in many of its celebrations throughout the country. In those years, although Galaxidi was under Turkish occupation, all the inhabitants waited for Halloween to have fun and dance in circles. One circle for the women, one for the men. They wore masks or simply painted their faces with charcoal. Then flour, loulaki, shoe polish and ochre were added.
-Vlachikos Wedding in Thebes. It is a custom that reaches our days from about 1830, after the liberation of the mountainous areas. The Vlachs, i.e. the shepherds from Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly and Roumeli, then abandoned their barren land and found fertile soil further south. The spectacle is exquisite, the wedding procession colourful, the accompanying music (pipes, dulcimers, etc.) extremely lively.
-The Wedding of Koutroulis in Methoni, Messinia. Carnival wedding, dating back to the 14th century. Nowadays, the honeymoon couple are two men, who, together with their relatives, go to the square, where the wedding takes place with a priest and a best man. The dowry is read and a great feast follows.
-In Messini, Messinia, there is a re-enactment of the execution of an old woman, the old woman Sykos, who, according to tradition, was hanged in the place of Kremala in the city, by order of Ibrahim Pasha, because she had the courage, explaining to him a dream she had seen, to tell him that his campaign and himself would be brought to a miserable end by the reaction and vigour of the rebellious Greeks. After the re-enactment, any visitor may hang himself from the false demons of the gallows. In the afternoon of Carnival Monday there is a parade with cheerleaders, floats, costumed children and adults and dance groups.
-Burani in Tyrnavos. Burani is a grass soup without oil, around the preparation of which the whole scene of the game is set up with phallic symbols and bold teasing by the buranids.
-The People's Court of Unethical Acts operates in Karpathos. Some people make ugly gestures to others and are arrested by the Jafides (gendarmes) to be taken to the Court, which is made up of the venerable people of the island. The impromptu jokes and laughter are followed by hilarious revelry.
-In the communities of Potamia, Kaloxido and Livadia on Naxos, the inhabitants dress up as Cordellati or Leventes. Cordellati are skirt-wearers and their second name Leventes is attributed to pirates. They are followed closely by the bandits, the Spararatori, who grab the girls to force them into the dance and feast, which lasts until morning.
-In the villages of Merona and Melidonia in Rethymnon, customs such as bride stealing, Kantis and smudging are revived, which, combined with good wine and the sounds of the lyre, constitute a unique experience.
-In Skyros, the custom of Trata takes place, which refers directly to an Aristophanic custom of seafaring life with a rhyming recitation of satirical verses about current affairs and culminates with the mystical dance of all the inhabitants of the island, in traditional local costumes in the central square.
-In Archangelos of Rhodes, the celebrations of Carnival Monday culminate with the "muzomas" and "aleuromata", along with the feast, the masquerades and the satire.
-In Megala Kalyvia, in the prefecture of Trikala, every year on Clean Monday and for more than a century, the traditional Karagouniko wedding is re-enacted.
-In Pentalofo, Kozani, the locals do not fly a kite on Clean Monday, but improvised, small balloons that they have built themselves.
-In Vonitsa, the custom of Gligorakis is revived every year on Clean Monday.
-The custom of the Camel is revived in the village of Kaina in the municipality of Apokoronas in Crete.
-The Neomagnesian Wedding is revived in the Nea Magnesia district of Lamia.
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