What is Green Monday?
Green Monday is the public holiday known in Greek as Kathara Deftera, Clean Monday, in Greece and Cyprus. It is the first day of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church and ends the pre-Lenten carnival season, known in Greek as Apokries. The name is usually explained as a cleansing of body and spirit, and many households also give the house and kitchen a thorough clean. It is also called Pure Monday, and outside the Orthodox Church sometimes Ash Monday, by analogy with Ash Wednesday.
The day is known for outdoor family picnics and for flying kites, which Greeks often explain as a symbol of reaching toward the divine. The meal is a Lenten spread without meat, eggs or dairy: lagana, an unleavened flat bread baked only on this day, plus taramosalata, olives, beans, halva and shellfish or octopus. Observant Orthodox treat the day as a strict fast, and many others eat only simple fasting foods. In Cyprus the day is spent in much the same way, with open-air meals and kite flying on hillsides and by the sea.
Why it is observed
The Orthodox Church counts the forty days of Great Lent from a Monday, unlike Western churches, which begin Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent, Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Holy Week together make up the 48 days that lead from Clean Monday to Easter Sunday. The day follows Cheesefare Sunday, the last day on which dairy products are eaten before the fast, and the carnival season of Apokries. Because the date follows Orthodox Easter, it moves from year to year and often falls on a different day from the Western Carnival season.
How the date is set
Green Monday, or Clean Monday, falls on the Monday 48 days before Orthodox Easter Sunday, which is the first day of Great Lent in the Orthodox calendar. Because Orthodox Easter moves between 4 April and 8 May, Clean Monday falls between 15 February and 21 March (15 March in 2027).
How it is observed
Clean Monday is a public holiday in Greece, where it is one of the moveable national holidays, and in Cyprus. Banks, public offices and schools close, and many shops have reduced hours, though bakeries and tavernas selling Lenten food are busy. Families head for parks, hills and beaches, so roads out of the major cities can be crowded. In 2027 it falls on 15 March. Pay and time off depend on national law and the contract.
Sources
Cyprus
Greece