Easter traditions in Greece

1. EASTER IN GREECE
Easter is in spring and people celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Easter starts on Palm Sunday in Greece. It is the start of the Holy Week,
and Greeks usually attend church and receive a palm branch, which
symbolizes the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
On Holy Thursday, people bake the traditional Easter bread, called
"tsoureki" and make Easter cookies (or “koulourakia” in Greek). Tsoureki
is a sweet bread made with flour, sugar, milk, and butter. People also dye
hard-boiled eggs red. The colour red symbolizes Christ's blood.
On Good Friday, Greeks go to church to mourn the death of Jesus. In the
evening, there is a procession where the Epitaphios (a decorated bier
symbolizing the body of Christ) is carried around the streets.
On Holy Saturday, preparations begin for the most important part of
Easter celebrations - the Resurrection. In the evening, people go to
church and participate in the Resurrection service. At midnight, the
priest announces the Resurrection of Christ and lights a candle, which is
passed from person to person, signifying the spreading of the light of
Christ.
After the Resurrection service, families return home to enjoy a big feast,
which includes traditional dishes like “mageiritsa”- -a Greek Easter soup.
After dinner, it’s time for the Greek Easter egg-cracking tradition,
where each person picks an egg and clinks it against the egg of someone
else. The person whose egg remains uncracked is believed to have good
luck for the rest of the year.
Finally, on Easter Sunday, families come together to have roast lamb on
the spit. and other Greek Easter treats, like ‘kokoretsi’. Everywhere
throughout Greece you can hear traditional Greek folk music on that day
and people eat, drink and dance the day away.