When is Clean Monday?
In 2026, Clean Monday falls on Monday, February 23, 2026. It is an observance rather than a federal holiday, so federal offices and most businesses follow their normal schedules.
History of Clean Monday
Clean Monday, Kathara Deftera, is the first weekday of Great Lent and falls forty-eight days before Orthodox Easter Sunday. Its name expresses spiritual renewal at the beginning of fasting, prayer and preparation for Pascha. It is not one of the nine compulsory holidays in Article 60 of Greece’s general private-sector labour law, yet the Bank of Greece closes and schools, public services and many workplaces observe the day under sectoral or customary arrangements. Calling it either an ordinary working day or a universally compulsory holiday would therefore be misleading.
Popular practice turns Lenten restraint into a distinctive outdoor celebration called Koulouma. Families spread picnics in parks, hills or beaches and eat lagana flatbread, olives, legumes, taramasalata, shellfish and halva, avoiding meat and dairy in keeping with Orthodox fasting. Colourful kites fill the sky when weather permits. Local customs add striking variations: Visit Greece highlights Galaxidi’s flour war, where participants in protective clothes throw coloured flour around the harbour. The date derives from the Orthodox Paschalion and can differ from western Ash Wednesday traditions.
How Clean Monday is observed
A major nationwide bank, public-sector and school holiday, but not one of Article 60’s compulsory holidays for every private undertaking.
Traditions of Clean Monday
Kite flying
Families carry bright kites to hills, parks and beaches, making the rising kites a visual emblem of Lent’s beginning.
Koulouma picnic
Outdoor tables feature lagana, olives, legumes, taramasalata, shellfish and halva, combining Orthodox fasting rules with sociable seasonal abundance.
Galaxidi flour war
In Galaxidi, masked participants throw coloured flour around the harbour in a raucous local finale to the Carnival season.
Dates and observance rules are checked against the official Greek Ministry of Labour and government guidance. Collective agreements, regional arrangements and school schedules may differ from the general statutory rule.
History sources: Bank of Greece: holidays observed during 2026, Visit Greece: Carnival and Clean Monday traditions, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese: dating Pascha in the Orthodox Church.
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