Lady Lent: A custom loved by both young and old!

If I was really looking forward to something during Lent, it was Clean Monday afternoon. After the family table, I would go to my grandmother's house and hang out ... knead and create Lady Lent! Lady Lent, the traditional nun-shaped bread, is one of the oldest and favorite customs associated with Lent, and unfortunately, tends to disappear nowadays.

Some parts of Greece used to make it out of paper, even from a cloth that they filled with down. The Pontians, on the other hand, took a potato or onion, the so-called "Koukouras" that was very frightening for the children, hung it on the ceiling and nailed it to the hen's wings. In the latter variant, the wings of Kukura were the feet of Lady Saracosti.

This particular custom was intended to make it easier for the faithful in the old days to count the weeks from Holy Monday to Holy Week. Each foot of Lady Lent symbolized one of the seven weeks of fasting they had to go through. Her figure depicts a woman with seven small legs, a long dress, hands crossed in prayer, a crucifix at the top of her head, with eyes and nose but no mouth as she fasts.

Every Sabbath of the week, beginning with the Good Monday until Good Saturday, a Lenten foot is cut. A family member places the foot in a dried fig or walnut and then hides it somewhere in the house. The person who finds it must keep it because according to our folk tradition it will bring luck. Formerly kneading and making homemade bread for the Resurrection and Easter Sunday table, they used to put the last leg in one of the two, as we still do with basil pie today.

If you want to remain faithful to all Lenten traditions this year, you should definitely follow this custom. Kids find it incredibly fun and it's an experience worth sharing with their classmates when they go to school!

For Lady Lent you will need a cup of salt, a glass of water and three cups of flour. Mix the ingredients well and knead the dough until it becomes a ball. Then with the appropriate movements and a rolling pin, spread it out and knife to form Lady Lent. If you like, you can adorn her feet by pinching a piece of clove on each leg. After preheating the oven to 160 degrees celsius, place it on a baking tray and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. We wish you good luck and good Lent!