It's called “Barbecue Thursday” — a raucous pre-Easter celebration for meat lovers. But this year's Tsiknopempti festivities, a fixture of the Carnival season, brought sobering reminders of Greece's financial crisis. Athens this week set up an open-air grill for its citizens, but the revelry quickly resembled a scene from a food bank as hundreds of elderly Greeks jostled for a plastic plate of free grub and glass of wine poured out the barrel – eager to take advantage of the freebies as they pinch pennies in the economic gloom. Greece's massive government debt burden has raised the alarming prospect of national default, rattling markets around the world with concern of a ripple effect through the euro zone. Greeks are plowing through the crisis with a mixture of trepidation and optimism. “This is the only way many people can celebrate. There's not enough money around to go to a restaurant,” retiree Katerina Aidonopoulou said after finishing her meal, barely audible over music from a live band outside the capital's main food market. “I think it will be better next year. What else can anyone say? You have to be optimistic or God help you.”
The month-long Carnival celebrations have provided a distraction from national gloom over the debt crisis. They are a blend of fancy dress parties, pagan-rooted village festivities and urban street parades — all tied to the Greek Orthodox calendar, with the partying stopping for Lent.
Dressed in butcher's overalls, Kleanthis Tsironis, head of the city's main meat market, put a brave face on the crisis as he bantered with people lined up for pork chops on Thursday: “Don't worry, we're not going bankrupt.”
He said four times the normal amount of food had been handed out for this year's outdoor barbecue — hoping the gesture would lift Athenian spirits.
“All we hear is bad news ... People need to relax a little, and smile a little, everything will be OK. It's a storm and it will pass,” Mr. Tsironis said.
Greece was plunged into financial turmoil this past October, when the Socialists won general elections and promptly revealed massive undeclared debts that alarmed the European Union and rattled confidence in the euro.
To rescue finances, the Socialists have frozen civil service wages, hiked consumer taxes and imposed cross-the-board state thriftiness, even pulling tanks and other armoured vehicles from this year's annual military parades.
The austerity program — initially tolerated by unions — is becoming increasingly unpopular and facing a growing number of labour protests, including an embarrassing walkout by employees of Greece's Finance Ministry. Unions are planning a general strike later this month, heightening concern in this riot-prone country.
Carnival costumes have served as an illustration of how the crisis has hit households.
Fancy dress costume vendors say single-piece superhero outfits are selling well this year, at the expense of the more pricey pirate look with plastic swords, eye-patches and other accessories sold separately.
Spending cuts are occurring against a backdrop of sustained poverty levels that make Greece one of the euro zone's poorest countries.
An annual survey on poverty, published this week by Greek market research firm VPRC estimated that 17 per cent of Greeks, or 1.5 million people, suffered serious financial difficulties in 2009, including trouble paying of health care and utility bills.
A separate survey by Greece's independent Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research, found that 57 per cent of households “barely covered expenses” in January, up 5 percentage points from a month earlier.
There's no shortage bleak predictions.
On the evening news, ashen-faced politicians spell out the latest dismal forecast, their jargon of financial misfortune entering Greece's public vocabulary: budget deficit projections or widening bond spreads no longer carry any explanation.
“The news media has terrified people. Nothing has changed in my life — I'm an employee, like my husband and my kids — but with all this bombardment, people feel like they are drowning,” said Chrysoula Kosmopoulou, a dance teacher.
She runs municipal dance classes in Moschato, a blue-collar neighbourhood in Athens, which hosts one of the country's largest Carnival parades each year.
Since the crisis started, attendance has gone up in her class, Ms. Kosmopoulou said, explaining that people seem determined to escape the prevailing angst.
“People are just not as cheerful this year. It's noticeable. But they are pushing themselves to take part in the festivities. They will give up something else just so they can have a little fun.”
Grigoris Papadopoulos, who has organized the Moschato Carnival for the past 24 years, also urged Greeks to take a break from worrying.
“When children come out and enjoy themselves at Carnival events, they pass it on to the adults. That's something we have to try and do this year, because people are having a tough time,” he said.
“It's about passing on optimism.”
06.02.2010
