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Greek Easter

School Year 2014-2015

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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.