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Greek Easter, the most important religious holiday in
Greece
Easter is the most important holiday of the year for the people
of Greece. Easter is always in spring and nature is most
beautiful at that time. The weather is good, neither cold nor too
hot and it is perfect time for hiking or traveling around.
Perhaps it is not the best time of the year for spending a day at
the beach but you will experience the wonderful Greek Easter
customs and religious ceremonies.
Easter = Pascha in Greek
In the Orthodox Church the feast of Easter is officially called
Pascha, the word which means the Passover. It is the eternal
Passover from death to life and from earth to heaven.
Easter (Pascha) begins on the Saturday of Lazarus (the
Saturday before Palm Sunday) with children and their teachers
being very happy because they will spend two weeks far from
school.
The Christian symbolism of Easter was first underlined by the
Apostle Paul. When the Christians began to celebrate Easter,
they retained some of the features of the Jewish Passover,
while at the same time adding others. This can be seen from the
paschal lamb and the red eggs.
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Greek Easter Customs & Food
Easter is the most sacred observance in the Greek Orthodox
faith. Preparations and customs remain some of the most
traditional in Modern Greek life.
Preparations for Easter come to a climax toward the end of
Holy Week, between Palm Sunday and Easter. While there are
many local customs associated with Easter, there are several
observed by all.
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Holy (or Great) Thursday
Easter preparations begin on Holy Thursday when the
traditional Easter bread, tsoureki, is baked, and eggs are dyed
red (red is the colour of life as well as a representation of the
blood of Christ).
From ancient times, the egg has been a symbol of the renewal of
life, and the message of the red eggs is victory over death.
In times gone by, superstitions grew into customs that included
placing the first-dyed red egg at the home's iconostasis (place
where icons are displayed) to ward off evil, and marking the
heads and backs of small lambs with the red dye to protect
them. Holy Thursday evening, church services include a
symbolic representation of the crucifixion, and the period of
mourning begins. In many villages - and in cities as well -
women will sit in church throughout the night, in traditional
mourning.
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Holy (or Great) Friday
The holiest day of Holy Week is Holy Friday. It is a day of
mourning, not of work (including cooking). It is also the only
day during the year when the Divine Liturgy is not read. Flags
are hung at half-mast and church bells ring all day in a slow
mournful tone.
Many devout do not cook on Holy Friday, but if they do,
traditional foods are simple, perhaps boiled in water (no oil)
and seasoned with vinegar - like beans - or thin soups like
‘tahinosoupa’, a soup made with tahini.
Traditionally, women and children take flowers to the church to
decorate the Epitaphio (the symbolic bier of Christ). The
Service of Lamentation mourns the death of Christ and the
bier, decorated lavishly with flowers and bearing the image of
Christ, is carried on the shoulders of the faithful in a procession
through the community to the cemetery, and back. Members of
the congregation follow, carrying candles.
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It is difficult to speak about Easter in Greece without getting
emotional. It is even more difficult to speak about the night of
Good Friday and keep our emotions out of this text.
There is something special about this night. The air is full of
the scent of flowers, it is still but not heavy, there is a
melancholic feeling all over but there is also something
different. There is a feeling of stillness, emptiness, calmness
and the hearts seem to open to accept the Love of Jesus'
sacrifice. This is more likely to experience in a small village but
it is obvious also in bigger towns in the more remote and quiet
neighbourhoods.
Good Friday seafood dinner
In Greece-especially in Crete and Volos- it is a custom to have a
late night dinner with seafood after the procession of the bier.
In big towns reservation is absolutely necessary if you don't
want to drive around desperately looking for an empty table.
This special dinner includes all kind of seafood but not fish. The
dishes which are served include calamares (squids), octopus,
shrimps, egg-fish paste (taramosalata), vine leaves stuffed with
rice, beans, beetroot and salads. This is the only day during the
40-days fasting period that precedes the Resurrection, that
animal proteins are consumed. This great period of Lent before
Easter is called by the Orthodox Church, Tessaracoste
(Quadragesimal), which comes from the word forty (the 40 days
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of "fasting"). However, today less and less people fast during the
Easter Lent.
Holy (or Great) Saturday
On Holy Saturday, the Eternal Flame is brought to Greece by
military jet, and is distributed to waiting Priests who carry it to
their local churches. The event is always televised and if there's
a threat of bad weather or a delay, the entire country agonizes
until the flame arrives safely.
On the morning of Holy Saturday, preparations begin for the
next day’s Easter feast. Dishes that can be prepared in advance
are made, and the traditional mayiritsa soup is prepared, which
will be eaten after the midnight service, to break the fast.
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The midnight Service of the Resurrection is an occasion
attended by everyone who is able, including children, each
holding a white candle.
Special candles made for Easter are called “labatha” (lah-BAH-
thah) and are often given as gifts to children from their parents
or God-parents. These candles can be lavishly decorated with
favourite children’s heroes or storybook characters, and may be
as much as three feet tall, but the candle itself is usually white.
These candles are only used for one Easter midnight service.
The midnight service (the Anastasi or resurrection service) is
the climax of the Orthodox year. People arrive at their church
before midnight. Nearly all Greeks, religious and non-religious,
attend this service. A few minutes before midnight all lights are
switched off, the priest appears at the altar holding a lit candle,
and he invites everyone to receive the light to glorify Christ,
who has risen from the dead.
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The light is passes among the congregation until the entire
church is aglow. Then the priest reads about the Resurrection
from the Gospel and the Christos Anesti is sung. As they leave
the church people greet each other saying Christos
Anesti (Christ has risen) and reply Alithos Anesti (He has truly
risen). This greeting is used for up to 40 days after Easter.
People return home, keeping their candles alight. Traditionally,
families use the Anastasicandle to make a cross of smoke over
the front door and to light the kandili in front of the family
icon. The Anastasi meal follows with the cracking of the dyed
eggs and traditional Easter foods, including Easter bread
(tsoureki) and mayeritsa or lamb soup. The official kickoff for
the meat-fest that is Greek Easter comes right after the church
service observing the resurrection of Christ on Saturday night.
Just after midnight, Greeks come home from church and first
indulge in a game of tsougrisma, or egg-tapping, with their red
eggs.
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Each person holds an egg and taps the eggs of others in the
family. Whoever manages to break the other eggs without
breaking their own is the winner. (Not surprisingly, this game
usually awakens a competitive streak among a lot of
participants, and fights have been known to break out when
illicit tactics are used.)
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday (Pascha or Lambri) is the day of feasting. Lamb
is typically cooked on a spit and a variety of other Greek dishes
are eaten. Friends and family gather in homes, eating lamb on
the spit and kokoretsi. Red eggs are cracked again. It is a big
feast, sometimes followed by dancing.
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The Corfiot Easter
The celebration of Easter in Corfu is a unique experience,
completely different from anywhere else in Greece, and
particularly impressive for first-time visitors to the island. It is
a huge festival, in which various components come together
harmoniously: the Orthodox Christian faith, pagan traditions,
the powerful presence of Saint Spiridon, the Roman Catholic
community, the Venetian influence, genuine Corfiot humor, the
music of the philharmonic bands and of course, the spring
atmosphere.
Friday is the day of the Epitaphios, the funeral of Christ. All
over the island, as all over Greece, every church brings out its
own funeral bier and parades it around the parish. In Corfu
however, the attendant philharmonic orchestras and choirs, the
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presence of thousands of Corfiots as well as foreign visitors,
give another dimension to the gravity of the occasion.
On Holy Saturday at 11am, the First Resurrection and the “Pot
Throwing” custom take place, with local people throwing pots
out of their windows, smashing them onto the streets below to
exorcise death and the evil spirits.
In the evening, before the Orthodox ceremony takes place, the
Catholic service at the Duomo Cathedral takes place. With the
participation of all Church officials, the Resurrection service
finishes at 11pm to permit the clergy time to prepare them for
the Orthodox service. In the town of Corfu, the service is held in
the Upper Espianada Square, starting at the Church of Agia
Paraskevi, with the participation of the Bishop, the
philharmonic orchestras and thousands of people.
The Resurrection is seen with a roll of drums and an impressive
fireworks display. When this ends, the bands traverse the
streets of the town at a great pace playing cheerful music, with
people running behind them singing.
The Resurrection is celebrated and the Lenten fast is broken
with chilikourda (the local Easter soup of magiritsa – lamb
intestines), red eggs, fogatsa (brioche), columbines (a special
bread of Venetian origin, baked in the form of a dove) and lots
of wine.
On Easter Sunday morning, churches in town that possess an
icon of the Resurrection parade it around the central streets,
something well worth seeing.
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The Rocket War of Chios
Vrodados village, also called Vrontada, is a village located about
5 km north of Chios Town. It is in the centre of the Municipality
of Homeroupolis. Every year on the evening before Easter, the
night sky gets lit up with thousands of flashes.
Rouketopolemos, or Rocket-War, is the name of this unique
local traditional event held annually at Easter. In a variation of
the Greek habit of throwing fireworks during the celebration of
the midnight service before Easter Sunday, two rival church
congregations in the town perform a rocket war by firing tens of
thousands of home-made rockets across town, with the objective
of hitting the other church’s bell tower. The rockets are wooden
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sticks loaded with an explosive mixture containing gunpowder
and launched from grooved platforms.
The two rival parishes are St. Mark’s and Panaghia Ereithiani,
the respective churches built on two hilltops about 400 meters
away from each other. Direct hits on each belfry are supposedly
counted on the next day to determine the winner, but each
parish invariably claims victory over the other. The result of
this apparent disagreement is that both parishes agree to settle
the score next year, and the rivalry is perpetuated. The church
buildings themselves and the nearby buildings have to be
extensively boarded up and protected with metal sheets and
mesh for the occasion.
The origin of this event is unclear, but local tradition holds that
it goes back to the Ottoman era. According to local lore it was
earlier performed with real cannons, until Ottoman authorities
prohibited their use in 1889.
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The Arachova St. George Fest
The small mountain village of Arachova is not only popular for
its winter attractions but hosts a unique custom for the Easter
time.
The icon of the local protector, St. George, is carried the second
day after Easter Sunday throughout the village, and a three
day fest is organized to honour the Greek Orthodox saint.
During the fest, some 500 locals wear traditional costumes and
gather at the courtyard of the Holy Church of Saint George. The
elder people then dance the “Panigyraki” (small fest) traditional
dance of the bagpipes and the snare drums. Then, the young
and the old inhabitants of Arachova participate in an uphill
race towards the headquarters of Mustafa Bey. The winning
prize is a living lamb.
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The Saitopolemos of Kalamata
The town of the Prefecture of Messinia is well known for its
“Saitopolemos” custom dating back to the revolution fights of
1821, when the people of Kalamata used the Saitas (a type of
firework that makes loud noise) to startle the horses of the
invading Turkish army, and thus, win the battle.
The Saitas are hand-made of filled up paper tubes and powder.
On Easter, a group of men wearing traditional costumes carry
the Saitas and detonate them while they are in their hands.
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The Burning of Judas in Metres
Every Holy Thursday, in the small town of Metres in Thrace,
the children walk from door to door asking for sticks to build
the wooden model of Judas. The model will burn the following
day after the Epitaphios is over and the priest reads the
relevant chapter from the gospel. The locals will then light a
fire, “burn Judas,” and scatter a handful of ashes on the tombs.
On Holy Saturday, the entire community attends church to
chant the Christos Anesti and watch the fireworks’ display.
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The Easter dances of Ierissos
In the village of Ierissos in Chalkidiki, locals gather on the
third day after Easter at the homonymous hills to relive the
custom of “The Field of the Doomed Youth” (Tou mavrou yiou t’
aloni). The elderly people start dancing and then everyone is
invited to join hands in a dancing circle extending for some 400
meters.
The Easter songs continue throughout the day and the custom
comes to an end with the “Kageleftos” Dance, which represents
the slaughter of 400 locals by the Ottomans during the 1821
revolution. The dancers pass under an arch made of laurel leafs
and the raised swords of two young men. In the middle of the
dance, the performers change their steps in order to look at
each other for the final greeting. The local traditional
“zografitikos” coffee boiling in a large cauldron, tsourekia and
red eggs complement the day. The dance is repeated again in
the afternoon in the central square of the village.
