Greek Culture:
March Holidays Story by Kostas Fantaousakis, Public Affairs
March 4 - Tsiknopempti (Smoked Thursday)
Tsiknopempti (Smoked Thursday) is the Thursday during Carnival (the Greek version of Mardi Gras) which marks the beginning of the last weekend that Greek Orthodox Church members are allowed to eat meat. Because of this, everyone rushes to prepare and enjoy their favorite meat dishes, thus creating a “cloud of smoke” where it is being cooked. This smoke gives Tsiknopempti its most common names, Smoke Thursday or Smoked Thursday. Page 48
It is also called Barbecue Thursday or Grilled Thursday by some. It's a popular day for going out to eat and enjoying as many different types of meat as possible. It can also be called, as a joke, Feast of the Carnivores. In Greek, the word “tsikna” (Τσικνο) refers to the smell of cooked meat and the word for Thursday is Pempti (Πέμπτη), which literally means the fifth day of the week, so "Smoked
