Holly week

Holly week is defined to be the week leading up to Christmas Day.
In this week it is traditional to cram in as much ringing as possible - fully-unmuffled ringing is preferred, although some religious types have decreed that half-muffled ringing is more suitable as "we are mourning the fact that an event that has already happened has not occured yet..." Special methods such as Holly Surprise Maximus should be rung to peals. If you are unable to achieve these methods then a close substitute is having a member of the band called Holly.
Holly can be wrapped around the sally for an authentic holly week experience. Legend has it that this was the way original ringers were punished for muffling/unmuffling the bells during this most sacred of weeks. In Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, Holy Week is referred to as "Great and Holy Week". Orthros (Matins) services for each day are held on the preceding evening.
Thus, the Matins service of Great Monday is sung on Palm Sunday evening, and so on. This permits more of the faithful to attend, and shows that during Holy Week the times are out of joint—Matins ends up being served in the evening, and in some places Vespers is served in the morning.Fasting during Great and Holy Week is very strict. Dairy products and meat products are strictly forbidden. On most days, no alcoholic beverages are permitted and no oil is used in the cooking. Friday and Saturday are observed as strict fast days, meaning that nothing should be eaten on those days.
However, fasting is always adjusted to the needs of the individual, and those who are very young, ill or elderly are not expected to fast as strictly. Those who are able to, may receive the blessing of their spiritual father to observe an even stricter fast, whereby they eat only two meals that week: one on Wednesday night and one after Divine Liturgy on Thursday.
The services of Sunday through Tuesday evenings are often called "Bridegroom Prayer", because of their theme of Christ as the Bridegroom of the Church, a theme expressed in the troparion that is solemnly chanted during them. On these days, an icon of the "Bridegroom" is placed on an analogion in the center of the temple, portraying Jesus wearing the purple robe of mockery and crowned with a crown of thorns (see Instruments of the Passion).