The carnival season, or “Apokries,” has arrived once again in Greece, and cities and towns throughout the country are now preparing for a full slate of colorful festivities during the three-week-long celebrations.

Apokries culminates on the weekend before “Kathara Deftera,” or Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent, which falls on March the 2nd this year.

The name Apokries (“apo kreas”) means “abstention from meat” because after that, the period of Great Lent, or “Sarakosti,” begins, where no meat whatsoever is consumed for 40 days before the great feast of Easter.

The streets of Athens will soon be filled with colorful confetti, masks, capes and hats. Various percussion instruments will give their rhythms to the festival time, and harlequins and clowns will be seen strolling the streets of the Greek capital.

Between Friday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1, well-known musical artists, among them Glykeria, Eleni Tsaligopoulou and Melina Kana, will give concerts under the Acropolis.

Read more: greek reporter