Island goes carnival crazy in first post-pandemic festivities (Update)

Carnival celebrations began around the island on Thursday as municipalities kicked off the festivities with Tsiknopempti events.

After two years without its famous carnival parade, its biggest annual event, Limassol announced 11 days of celebrations that will see the town filled with dressed-up crowds, singing and dancing, all the way to Sunday February 25.

As with every year, the big parade is expected to draw people from all over the island, visiting to watch and join in on the festivities.

Street parties and singing kicked off the festivities on Thursday morning, leading up to the official opening of the programme at 6pm with an impressive flag-waving show by Castiglion Fiorentino Historical Group.

Popular Limassol-based bands Batukinio and Brazilian Band will then perform a live percussion show bringing samba sounds and Afro-Brazilian music to the heart of Limassol.

The mayor, accompanied by the municipal council and the Limassol majorettes will then head to Grigoris Afxentiou square for the arrival of Limassol Carnival’s Flame King and the 2023 Limassol Carnival King.

After the crowning of this year’s king, a parade will circle through the old town and end up back at the square, where a party will be held, offering the first taste of the 2023 carnival.

Meanwhile, Famagusta and Paphos announced their own festivities which will also culminate with parades in each district on Sunday February 25.

Festivities in Paphos were set to kick off at noon on Thursday with a street party to celebrate Tsiknopempti.

At 6.30, the Paphos carnival king will lead a procession towards Kennedy Square, accompanied by dancers, majorettes and the Paphos municipality philharmonic, where at 7pm Greek singer Katerina Lioliou will have a concert.

The Famagusta carnival king and queen were presented last week, representing the Frenaros and Acheritou communities.

Competition among municipalities ran high, with mayors each plugging their respective festivities.

Aglandjia mayor Andreas Constantinou boasted to the Cyprus News Agency that “our carnival has no reason to be jealous of the well-known carnival in Limassol.

“For the first time, our carnival-goers number more than 5,000.”

He added: “People need to get out, so this year we’ve organised the grand parade which had been taking place in previous years.”

The parade in Aglandjia will be held on Sunday at 11.30am.

Tsiknopempti is part of the traditional celebrations of Apokries, the Greek Carnival season. The celebration, normally translated as Charred Thursday or Smoky/Stinky Thursday, centres on the consumption of large amounts of grilled and roasted meats.

Meantime demand for meat spiked on Thursday, according to head of the butchers association Costas Livadiotis.

He said sales were about twice as many as on any given day of the week. Prices, though still high compared to last year, had stabilized since Christmas time.

Asked whether people came to butchers with any requests out of the ordinary, Livadiotis said some had asked for pheasant and kangaroo meat.

“We do have kangaroo, frozen kangaroo meat.”

But the oddest request was from a Cameroonian national, who came looking for crocodile meat.