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Clean Monday is a public holiday in [[Greece]] and [[Cyprus]], where it is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other [[Eastern Orthodoxy#Fasting|fasting]] food<ref>Strictly observant Orthodox hold this day (and also Clean Tuesday and Wednesday) as a strict fast day, on which no solid food at all is eaten. Others will eat only in the evening, and then only [[xerophagy]] (lit. "dry eating"; i.e. eating uncooked foodstuffs such as fruit, nuts, halva, bread and honey, etc).</ref>, a special kind of [[azyme]] (unleavened) bread, baked only on that day, named "lagana" ({{lang-el|λαγάνα}}) and the widespread custom of flying kites. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products is traditionally forbidden to Christians throughout Lent, with fish being eaten only on major feast days, but shellfish is permitted. This has created the tradition of eating elaborate dishes based on seafood (shellfish, molluscs, fish roe etc). Traditionally, it is considered to mark the beginning of the spring season, as evidenced by the sticheron fro the [[Lenten Triodion]], "The Lenten Spring has come...".<ref name="ap"/><ref>This is also a notion which was used symbolically in Ivan Bunin's critically acclaimed story, "Pure Monday."</ref>

==Notes==