Greeks Shopping for Easter Meat Reflects Nation Uneasy Over Cash

The skinned lamb heads stare balefully out at the elderly women agonizing over them, while a butcher spreads out a piece of white spongy tripe to entice Greeks preparing for their traditional Easter feast.

“People don’t buy a whole lamb nowadays, 10 kilos, they buy three or four kilos,” said Kostas Kelaiditis, 68, as he pounded his butcher’s ax through bones and sinew in the central meat market in Athens. “The whole lamb is for those who declare an income of 50,000 euros a year or more.”