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Tyrini, Cheesefare Week
The Greek and Cypriot week of cheese before Lent, with tyropita, cheese pies and macaroni baked with cheese.
Cheeses for Tyrini, Cheesefare Week
In the Greek Orthodox year, Tyrini or Tyrofagou is the last week of Carnival, when meat is no longer eaten but cheese, milk and eggs still are. Cooks make tyropita with feta, cheese pies of every shape, and on Cheesefare Sunday a dish of pasta baked with grated kefalotyri or mizithra is traditional in many regions. In Cyprus, halloumi and anari go into pastries and are fried for the last feasts. The week ends with masquerades and the custom of asking forgiveness, and Clean Monday opens Great Lent, when dairy is put away until Easter.
The cheeses
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Tyrini" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mizithra: grongar, CC BY 2.0, source
- Feta: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Halloumi: Rainer Zenz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kefalotyri: J.P.Lon, CC BY-SA 4.0, source