Cypress In Flames!

No, no, no, not Cyprus, cypress. But the cypress was in Cyprus. Well, until it burned. Confused yet?

It seems the Green party on the island of Cyprus are up in arms over a centuries-old tradition. Local youths compete to have the largest bonfire, known locally as "lambradjia" (translation: big fire) with which to burn an effigy of Judas Iscariot on Easter (that would be Greek Orthodox Easter, which falls on April 23rd this year). The Greens are charging that someone cut down a pair of 200 year old trees on the estate of the President of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos.

"It is really an issue of educating people. Some might regard it as an easy solution for firewood, seeing a tall tree and saying, 'oh, I'll cut that one down'," said party spokeswoman Ioanna Panayiotou, adding "Its a yearly phenomenon."

Oddly enough, the trees they are cutting down are not the mutant lemon trees that are producing giant lemons. They also seem to be jumping to conclusions that the trees are being felled by frisky youths. Couldn't it be frisky, giant, mutant bunnies?

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UPDATE: Linking to Blue Star Chronicles open trackback thread. Also James Joyner's trackback thread.