Crete tourist guide

Clean Monday and a 4.5-meter lagana

2024-03-18 19:58:07

Just yesterday there were crazy carnival games, but today in Greece is completely different. This is the so-called Clean Monday ( Καθαρή Δευτέρα ), sometimes called Ash Monday or Lent Monday, because it marks the beginning of the 40-day fast. It is a movable feast celebrated on Monday of the seventh week preceding Orthodox Easter. This holiday is a day off from work in Greece and Cyprus and is also traditionally treated as the beginning of the spring season.

The entire first week of Lent is often referred to as " Clean Week " and, according to Greek customs, the house is to be thoroughly cleaned during this week. However, the main meaning of this holiday is cleansing and spiritual change, mutual forgiveness and starting the period of fasting with a clear conscience. Whenever possible and provided the weather is good, Greeks spend this holiday outdoors, flying kites.
During shared meals with family and friends, there are dishes based on Lent ingredients, e.g. crustaceans, molluscs, lagana bread and boiled vegetables. In some areas of Greece, one of the popular dishes appearing on Clean Monday is beanada soup.

Lenten lagana bread

One of the traditions of Clean Monday includes baking lagana bread, which is the basis of the Lenten table. Although many housewives still prepare their own bread, the vast majority of Greeks buy lagana from local bakeries, which start producing it on the evening before Clean Monday. Although in larger cities the sale of this bread starts at night, no one is surprised by the huge queues that form in front of the best bakeries in the morning.

This flat, oblong bread sprinkled with sesame seeds is prepared without leavening using flour and water. The history of lagan has its origins in ancient times. Mentions of this bread appear in plays created by ancient writers Horace and Aristophanes (performed around 400 BC). At that time, the Greeks ate unleavened bread called laganon, and it is probably the ancestor of the current holiday bread eaten on Clean Monday.

Lagana of record size

Despite a lot of work and all-night preparations to make traditional lagans available in stores from the dawn of Clean Monday, there is no shortage of bakers who prepare special lagans of record sizes.
This year, probably the largest lagana in Crete was baked in Theoharis Dimitroulakis' bakery located in Nea Chora in Chania. The lagana he prepared was 2.36 meters high and 4.5 meters wide. More than 50 kg of flour was used to prepare this lagana. Dimitroulakis has been baking such large laganas for 27 years, so you could say it's his private tradition. Such large baked goods are always displayed in front of the bakery entrance, and their photos appear on news websites. As every year, Dimitroulakis intends to distribute his lagana to those in need.

Gosia,  2024-03-18 19:58:07

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