The custom of Lent
is one of the oldest customs associated with the celebration of Easter, but
today it is more or less forgotten. It has always served as a calendar to count
the weeks from Clean Monday to Holy Week, as Lent's has 7 feet, one for each
week of the Lent period. It is a custom that tends to disappear nowadays, while
in the past we met it all over Greece with various variations and it was used
as a calendar that counted the weeks of Lent.
Lady Lent, in most areas, was a paper painting depicting a woman, who looked
like a nun, with 7 legs, crossed arms because she prays, a cross because she
went to church and without a mouth because she fasted. At the end of each week,
starting on Saturday after Shrove Monday, one of her legs was cut off. The last
one was cut on Holy Saturday. This piece of paper was folded well and hidden in
a dried fig or walnut (Chios area), which they placed together with others.
Whoever found it was considered lucky and lucky. In some areas, the seventh leg
was placed in the bread of the Resurrection and whoever found it brought good
luck.
Every Clean Monday we have the tradition of the Kites! The kite symbolizes the flight of the human soul to Sky and God!
