Clean Monday from Afar

Yet so close to the heart..

For me, Clean Monday is not just the beginning of Lent.
It is a quiet reminder.

A reminder that tradition does not get lost when we move to a new place.
It travels. It takes root. And it continues to grow.

Teaching and living among the diaspora, I often think that our children do not always have the same images we had — the sky full of kites, lagana bread on the family table, the sea, the wind across the hills.

Yet… we can give them the meaning.

Clean Monday is a new beginning.
A chance for inner clarity.
For reflection. For goals. For quiet strength.

At Nostos Hellenic Academy, we do not just learn words.
We learn their meaning.

We talk about fasting and traditions.
About the symbolism of the kite soaring high, like the soul we hope to lift.
About roots that are never lost, even when they grow in a different land.

Then, we make our own kites.

I ask the children to write on theirs:
a Greek word they love,
a goal for the year,
a wish they want to keep.

And there, in a simple craft, I see something deeper:
Connection.

Because Clean Monday, especially here, is not just a tradition.
It is a bridge between two homelands.
It is a way to remember who we are.

And if it is snowing outside and the sky won’t let a real kite fly, it doesn’t matter.
What matters is that something has already soared..

Every time a child confidently says a Greek word,
every time they ask, “Why do we do this?”,
every time they smile understanding a custom…

our kite has already flown.

Wishing you a blessed Lent,
with serenity, light, and quiet strength.