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From: Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Clean Monday
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 11:17:40 +1300
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3 March is "Clean Monday" (Καθαρά Δευτέρα) in Greece and Cyprus.

"...it is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of 
shellfish and other fasting food, a special kind of azyme bread, baked 
only on that day, named "lagana" (Greek: λαγάνα) and the widespread 
custom of flying kites, as it symbolises "trying to reach the Divine"."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Monday

Yes, it's the first flickering of Lent, which in the West begins on Ash 
Wednesday (5 March) and runs to Maundy Thursday (17 April).

But before that we have Pre-Lent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Lent

whose concluding three-day festival is called "Carnival" or "Shrovetide":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival

"The word is said to come from the Late Latin expression carne levare, 
which means "remove meat"; a folk etymology derives it from carne vale, 
"farewell to meat"."
Oops. I believed the folk etymology for most of my life.

My public-holiday calendar gives 3-4 March as Carnival in Argentina and 
Brazil.

But there's also Mardi Gras ("Greasy Tuesday") or Shrove Tuesday
(4 March) a big celebration in New Orleans and elsewhere, though not a 
national holiday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras

Enough. I'm going to start fasting.