Celebrating Smoky Thursday (Τσικνοπέμπτη)
Or is it actually Smelly Thursday?
“Are you folks celebrating Smoky Thursday tonight?”
I had no idea what that was, but I’m always down for a celebration.
In Greek class, we learned that it was Tsiknopempti (Τσικνοπέμπτη), which roughly translates to “the smell of roasted meat Thursday” due to the smell of grilled meat in the air.
Tsiknopempti is part of Apokries (Carnival season) in Greece and is made up of three themed weeks of celebration. These weeks are, in order: Prophoní (Προφωνή, 'Preannouncement Week'), Kreatiní (Κρεατινή, 'Meat Week'), and Tiriní (Τυρινή, 'Cheese Week').1
On Tsiknopempti, family and friends gather to eat large quantities of grilled meat (sorry vegans) and celebrate, just ten days before Lent begins.
We decided to join our friends at “the old man place” in their neighborhood to celebrate.
The smell of grilled meat filled the streets as we walked to the restaurant. Supposedly in ancient Greece, people sacrificed animals and burned them for the gods above to ‘enjoy’ the smoke that drifted up.
At the restaurant, the waiter said, “Today is not the day for salad.” We proceeded to order lamb, grilled pork, fried zucchini, and more, but no salad.
We closed out the restaurant. As we walked home, the smell of grilled meat still hung in the air.
The gods must have enjoyed the night.
I certainly did.
❤️ Thanks Don and B for introducing us to Smoky Thursday. I still think it should be called Smelly Thursday.