If you have young children, this is a fantastic old Greek tradition to embrace and to make with them on the first week of Lent. Mrs Lent with seven legs can be made using flour and water, or paper – it’s just for fun, not for eating!
It reminds me of the chocolate advent calendars we give to our children in the UK, to count down the days till Christmas; this is the similar but for Easter.
On the first Saturday after Clean Monday, you remove one of the dolls’ seven legs and you continue doing this every Saturday thereafter, counting down the weeks until Easter Sunday. After the last leg is removed, the doll is hidden in a bowl of fruit, and whoever finds it, receives a special blessing.
Below is an old Greek poem, which I have translated as best I can:
E Kyra Sarakosti (Mrs Lent) is an old myth,
Our grandmothers would make her with flour and water.
For decoration they put a cross on her head,
But they forgot her mouth because she was fasting for a long time.
They counted the days with her seven legs,
They cut off one a week until Easter arrived.
Mrs Lent has seven legs, as many weeks as the Easter fast.
Every Saturday after Kathari Theftera (Clean Monday), one foot is cut off.
She has her hands together because she is praying,
She has no mouth because she is fasting,
She has no ears so she can’t hear any gossip,
She has no nose so she cannot be tempted with food smells.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup water, approx
1/2 cup salt (so it last longer)
1 tsp ground cinnamon or mix spices (so the dough smells nice)
Whole cloves for decoration
Method:
Place flour, salt, cinnamon and water in a bowl, mix well until you have a soft playable dough.
Shape into a large doll adding seven legs at the bottom of her skirt. Make sure you make a small hole on top of her head to thread a string through and hang her up.
Bake in a medium oven at 170c for 25 minutes or until cooked. Once cooled, you can paint the doll if you like.