The smell of burning meat - Τσικνοπεμπτη

Last Thursday the 19th was Tskinopempti (Τσικνοπεμπτη), a sort of kick off for the Lenten season before the real fasting begins. The word Tskinopempti comes from two words, "tsikno" the smell of burning meat, and "pempti" for Thursday. This day is always two Thursdays before Carnival and Clean Monday (the beginning of Lent) and is celebrated with the eating of lots of meat. Since tavernas and personal grills everywhere are cooking up a variety of meats, the smell of burning (or grilled) meat is everywhere. And hence the name of the day.

Being a meat lover, this is easily one of my favorite religiously connected days. This is the 2nd year in a row that we've called up friends to join us for a meat filled meal. Reservations are a must at tavernas for this particular evening, otherwise there's no way you are getting in.

The place we went to this year is a little basement hole in the wall. It's such a locally known place (in it's particular neighborhood, not greater Athens) that they don't even have a sign outside. You can easily stroll by and not even know there's a restaurant there. They had the place all decked out with Carnival items and decorations stretched from lamp to lamp up above. All tables were given packets of streamers that we were welcome to toss around. By the end of the evening we had practically created a tent of them over out table.

As for the food, mmmmm meat! Some of the offerings were: kokoretsi (the innards of a lamb or goat, wrapped up in the small intestine and then cooked on a spit for a number of hours), paidakia (small lamb ribs topped with wonderful spices/herbs - pictured below), and pork in a variety of presentations. Of course, all of that can be served with delicious salads and other side dishes and followed down the gullet with your choice of red or white house wine (red please!).


After 4 hours of eating and talking (fairly evenly distributed) we were a full bunch heading out the door at 1am. After a night like that, you WANT to start a fast.

New Year's Day

Not so timely a subject, I know, but I decided the other day to put down my experiences during the various holidays. I give no guarantee that this is how things are done in every household in Greece.

Between Christmas and New Year's, the latter seems to be a bigger deal to celebrate here. I haven't actually been here for Xmas to see what happens in the neighborhood, so can't say for sure. I do know that prior to the holidays, you often see advertisements for holiday getaways for Christmastime. Lots of people I know are actually out of the country on the 25th.

What do they do here for New Year's you ask? On NYE things really don't get started until after midnight. Most spend the actual Eve with their families, ring in the New Year at midnight, and THEN head out to parties, bouzoukia, or bars. If you can avoid it, you don't want to be on the streets between midnight and 1. The same can be said for 4am and after, when these parties start wrapping up and no mention of designated driver has been had earlier. ;-)

We personally were in bed by 11pm, partly due to my jet lag as well as disinterest in going out. As for the family piece of the celebration, we were going to cover that on the next day. January 1 is the name day for both Vasilis and his mother, Vasiliki. (Name days are a bigger deal than birthdays. Many open up their house to friends stopping by, food and drink flowing through the day.) Wanting to make sure we have quality time with his mom, we planned a small get-together at our house with her and Maria who lives with her.

Part of the New Year's Day tradition is the cutting and eating of the Vassilopita. Saint Vasilis is the local equivalent of St Nick, and it being his Saint's day, the cake (Vassilopita) is named after him. The cake is cut, by the eldest person present, into enough pieces for everyone there, and 2 additional. One for St Vasilis and the other for Christ (I have seen listings including pieces for others, but this is what I know). Somewhere in the cake has been placed a gold coin. Whoever gets the coin in their piece of cake is supposed to have good financial luck for the year. Last year Vasilis found the coin, but this year no one did - except perhaps Vasilis's co-workers who we had taken the remaining cake to.

You can buy these cakes at a local sweetshop, which we did this year. As shown in the picture, it says "Happy New Year 2009" on it and came with gold coin already hidden somewhere. Unfortunately, they sell these cakes by the kilo and soak them with a honey mixture of some sort making them quite heavy and therefore expensive (20 Euros). The excessive honey mixture makes it too sweet to really enjoy much of. Next year we'll be making our own.

For a more in depth write up of New Year's traditions and celebrations, see this blog entry by a fellow American who's been living in Athens for ~15 years (and is a much better writer than I). American in Athens - New Year's in Greece

Street sellers

We spent the day downtown yesterday, Vasilis joining me after a morning meeting.  A friend of his joined us and we had lunch in the Monastiraki area.  Our outdoor table was sitting right at the intersection of two pedestrians streets, which turned out to be a good place for these African men to set up their portable sales.

You can see such arrangements all over Athens, definitely in the touristy areas but also near metro stations and bus stops.  Not all of them are selling their wares legally, and this particular group of "salesmen" usually aren't.  With a devilish desire for excitement, I was hoping the police would come along while we were at our table, so we could see the sellers bolt.  In the meantime, however, they were striking some interesting poses that I wanted to catch with my camera.

Of the street sellers, I think I like these guys the most because they don't get in your face to make a sale.  As you can see in the top picture, they keep an eye for those who might show interest (click on the picture for a larger version and better detail), spend time on the phone or chat with their fellow sellers in the downtimes.  Others approach you as you walk buy, or come up to your table, hawking their wares.  Sometimes they are useful items such as sunglasses or umbrells, others its simple little crap which makes me wonder who would ever buy it.

As you can see in the bottom picture, they are selling handbags, simply displayed on a white cloth.  In times of trouble (read: policemen approaching) they grab the corners of the cloth, wrapping up their handbags in one big package and running away as quick as possible.  I've never seen anyone get in any real trouble when this happens, so it's mostly harmless entertainment for those who witness it.

Luckily for me I had taken these pictures when I did, because only a few minutes later, confusion started as some of the street sellers started running - colliding with locals and tourists on the sidewalk.  At the first hint of movement, my nameless photographees made a quick grab and fled up the steep street next to them.  We couldn't even see police until sometime later, ironically coming from the direction everyone tried to escape to.  It was quite a collection of men who had ran away, one even dropping his stacks of bootleg DVD's and CD's.

Although they seem to be operating illegally, they don't have qualms about claiming what is theirs.  A purse or two was dropped when they gathered everything and a woman had grabbed one hoping to make a cost free acquisition.  The African man noticed her at the bottom of the hill and went to get it back.  There was a discussion with she and one of the policemen (it was obviously not her purse, still with handle covers and she already carrying one).  The African man's papers were checked, evidently in good order, and the bag returned to the rightful owner.  After things calmed down and the police left, they returned to their previously fled-from sales post to spread the white cloths out again.