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This is made up of two Greek words: "apokries" and "glendi." The Greek word "apokries" means "farewell to meat" and "glendi" means a festival or carnival. The phrase "apokriatiko glengi" is the term given to the meatfare festival which takes places two weeks before Great Lent begins. In English, the 2nd last week before Great Lent is called "meatfare week" and the last week before Great Lent is called "cheesefare week". Meatfare week is the last week for eating meat, and cheesefare week is the last week for eating dairy products, before the fasting period begins and lasts for around 50 days prior to Easter Day. So the "apokriatiko glendi" is called meatfare week in English, and is the last week for eating meat before Great Lent begins. In Greece, the apokriatiko glendi is very popular and is celebrated with music, dancing and lots of meat-eating before the fasting period starts. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, fasting begins on "Clean Monday" which is 10 March 2008 this year, and ends on Orthodox Easter Sunday, which is on 27 April 2008. During the 50 days of fasting, Orthodox Christians usually abstain from eating all meat and dairy products, especially during the final week of Lent, which is called "Holy Week" or "Passion Week."
