Tsiknopempti

The celebration starts on Smoking Thursday every year

The celebration starts on Smoking Thursday - Tsiknopempti every year, this year it's going to be on February 20th 2020, when the King of the Carnival will make his grand entrance into the city of Limassol. This will be followed by the Grand Parade taking place on Sunday, 1st March 2020.

Smoking Thursday - Tsiknopempti literally "Thursday of the Smoke of Grilled Meat", is part of the traditional celebrations for Carnival season in Cyprus and Greece.
The three weeks of Carnival in Cyprus are, in order, "Profoni", "Kreatini" and "Tirofagou".

Smoking Thursday - Tsiknopempti is the Thursday of the week of Kreatini, during which large amounts of meat are traditionally consumed prior to the arrival of Lent, the fasting season leading up to Easter.

In the Cyprus Orthodox tradition, fasting on Wednesday and Friday is important, therefore Thursday is the best day for Smoking Thursday – Tsiknopempti.

Smoking Thursday - Tsiknopempti is celebrated 11 days before Green Monday.