Angry firefighters protest planned spending cuts outside Parliament on Jan. 29
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It's not easy to be told that your attitude needs to change, but that's the Greek government's message. Still, even as Greeks grapple with changing their lifestyle, the fact that they like to spend could turn out to be a blessing. "Greece is a poor country with rich people," says Sarantis. "It's a strange thing." He has a point. Despite the economic downturn, Golden Hall, a luxury mall in the capital that opened in 2008, was packed on a recent weekend, and the shelves in many of its 131 stores were bare. Perhaps it's a final party, just like Tsiknopempti, before things get leaner. A recent poll in the newspaper Ethnos reported that 73% of those surveyed said they were willing to make sacrifices to turn the crisis around. "Greeks know the days of living on borrowed money are over," says investor and economist Timos Melissaris. "The time has come to pay the bill." Lent, it seems, is going to last a hell of a lot longer this year.