LEMESOS CARNIVAL

Thursday 16 February - Sunday 26 February 2012

Lemesos Carnival is celebrated throughout the island with parades and floats and much fun and joviality. Lemesos Carnival is the largest and most colorful of all carnivals in Cyprus and lasts for an amazing eleven days.

February is known the world over as the time for Carnival and although Lemesos Carnivals is not a patch on Rio, it's great fun and enjoyed by all. As with all carnivals the focus is on fun, food and celebrating the end of winter. This is a time for saying goodbye to the winter months and welcoming in the Spring and it's also a time of fasting.

In French 'carnival' means the end of the meat-eating period and for Greeks it's referred to as Apokria, the fasting period before Easter. It's a very happy time of the year and is celebrated in various ways in many Mediterranean countries such as France, Spain, Greece and Cyprus.

Meat & Cheese Weeks

The carnival takes place 50 days before Easter and the first week is meat week (Kreatini) when Orthodox Christians stop eating meat.

The second week is cheese week (Tyrini) and carnival festivities begin on Thursday of the Meat Week.

Highlights include the entrance of King Carnival, the Children's Carnival Parade, the Serenaders' Parade and the Grand Carnival Parade of chariots and groups.

In Limassol the whole family gets involved in the events and streets are full to overflowing with people having fun and enjoying themselves. Limassol is the city where you'll find the most exciting Carnival celebrations in Cyprus and much preparation goes into this eleven day event which is always held 50 days before Easter.

It's particularly enjoyed by the very young as this is the time when they all get dressed up for the parade and many hours are spent preparing costumes for the great event.

Celebrations start on Shrove Thursday when the King Carnival enters town. This is followed on the Sunday by the children's parade and various Serenaders Shows which take place throughout the week in hotels.