Big Thursday of Easter

Easter is a holiday that many people celebrate in the whole world and despite the date differences and some other facts between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, both of the Churches celebrate it with great celebrations and this is a very important date for all of them, if you ask me.

This year, Catholic Easter was earlier, than the Orthodox Easter, and while I’m an orthodox, I celebrated Easter on the 1-st of May _ what a great date!

So, usually Easter is celebrated on the end of the week _ on Sunday, and so the 1-st of May, 2016 was a Sunday, of course. But till we get to the Sunday, there are whole other days when people start preparing for the Easter holiday and they do lots of things to be ready for Sunday.

Well, there are mainly these two major days before Easter. The first one is called this “Big Thursday” and the second one is the “Red Friday”. Then comes Saturday and so that is kind of Easter eve and people go to church and meet Easter holiday there. After that there is this Monday and many people go to the cemeteries and that is kind of a tradition in many places in Georgia.

So, once you got the overall view of the whole Easter thing in Georgia, I’m going to describe my Easter of 2016, because it kind of met the beginning of this another Erasmus Travellers  Competition and I didn’t have a chance to write about this holiday until now because of not having enough time.

Big Thursday

Well, let me tell you, that I study at Tbilisi State Medical University and I had this dermatology curation during that time and it was not really clear whether we had curations on the Big Thursday or not, because I’m from Kakheti region _ that is near Tbilisi in the East Georgia and I would have liked to go to Kakheti to my family on Easter as soon as possible. Then this lady came into our room and told us that we wouldn’t be having curations on Thursday until Tuesday the 3-rd of May and this was a great news for us and we were all happy and stuff. Of course then an exam was waiting for us on Wednesday and we had a lot to do to prepare for it, but still, it was a great news that we were all waiting for.

They say people should not work on the Big Thursday, and I don’t really remember what kind of work they refer to. I guess, it’s about land-related work, like when in villages or something people have to seed and water and do all the stuff that people do on spring and, if you don’t know, I will tell you, that they do a lot of stuff during spring, because everything is seeded and planted during that time. My grandfather owns a garden, a vineyard, some lands and he just loves working there and, I guess, spring is the season he is always waiting for to work in his garden and just plant those vegetables and stuff. He usually seeds tomatoes, potatoes, beans, carrots, some herbs including parsley, fennel, coriander, onions, celery, etc. And when I came there on this Easter, of course I visited his garden _ it’s right next to our house, and he had already seeded those herbs and they were ready to be used and they were pretty much grown and stuff. He had all those herbs that people need to prepare some dishes and since the Easter holiday is not celebrated without dishes, people prepare many of them, it was necessary to have herbs on our hands and it was a great news that we had herbs in our garden and we could use them as much as we wanted. When I asked, my grandfather told me that he had planted potatoes and carrots and pumpkins and cucumbers, too, and that he had only left beans and tomatoes to seed. That is too much work, if you don’t know. Especially planting potatoes, if you ask me, because potatoes are many, and you have to dig holes and put them there and stuff like that. And seeding onions is not easier, too. I’ve seen how they seed them _ people are on their knees for the whole time and that is not an easy job for anyone, especially people of that age, I mean, my grandfather is around 80 and, so, imagine! Well, he is still in a good shape and he does lots of things.

Anyways, this Big Thursday would be a great day and so I had some plans on that day and then I was planning on going to Kakheti, but that changed and I thought I could go there the next day on Friday.

Eucharist or Divine Liturgy

The Big Thursday is a day when people go to church and receive the Eucharist. According to the Bible, this is the day when Christ had his last meal with his 12 apostles. In Orthodox Church the service is called the Divine Liturgy and it has two parts: the first is the Liturgy of the Catechumens, and the second is the Liturgy of the Faithful and that’s when the Eucharist is offered, consecrated and received as Holy Communion. They hold leavened bread and wine with the leaven symbolizing the presence of the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ, respectively.

People are especially looking forward to this day and receiving the Eucharist and there are always many people in the churches in Georgia on that day. Some churches are so crowded that people stand outside the church and do the service there.  And the major one is done in Sameba Cathedral _ this huge cathedral in Avlabari, Tbilisi _ which have become a symbol of greatness and it has not been long since it was built. All the major processes are held in Sameba Cathedral and Ilia the 2-nd  Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia has services there.  (Surprisingly, I just found out that he was born in 1933 and that is the year that my grandfather was born, too).

So, when I walked outside the streets of Tbilisi, many people were moving around, some wanted to buy some things, others were probably going to work, or coming from work or just going to get their kids from somewhere or just going to their friends’ or whatever. The thing was, that there were so many people walking outside that you could barely see. Everyone was walking kind of slowly, because there were so many things on the streets, especially huge amounts of Pascha cakes, that you would want to buy them. You know, Pascha is a very delicious cake, if you ask me, and many people love it and they just wait for the Easter to get many Paschas and eat them and there are many delicious Paschas in some placesand if you know those places and you buy your Paschas there, you are just a happy human being on earth, I guess, because finding a perfect Pascha for yourself is a huge deal for everyone. This year my aunt bought a Pascha that was really, really great. I just loved it. It was kind of a mixture of all the Paschas and it was just the right one, if you ask me.

Despite the fact that it was raining, people were still shopping and stuff like that and it was really surprising, I guess. Well, they had all those days ahead of them, but they still walked in that rain and chose some fruits and vegetables and all the other things people buy for the holidays. Yeah, maybe they didn’t have time for shopping on other days, who knows.

Well, I was going to my friends apartment, where we could study a little bit. And the next day she was also going to go to her town to her relatives, so we had this day for our practice. I must say, that it takes about 1 hour to get from my apartment to hers, so it’s kind of tiring being on a way for so long, but here in Tbilisi going almost everywhere takes about 1 hour, so people are accommodated to that, I guess. Still, it’s frustrating though. You lose so much time on a way that you could do so many things during that. So, on my way to her apartment I got hungry and decided to buy some stuff, and, you know, you should not go into a supermarket when you are hungry or something, because when I went out of the supermarket I was full of cookies and food and juiceand all those stuff and she told me not to bring anything!

When I went there, we ate things, of course, what else could we do. I was pretty pleased with my choices of food _ everything was pretty good except for one kind of cookies, which I didn’t really like, but she said they were good, so what should I say, everything depends on an individual _ someone doesn’t like something, someone likes that something, etc. I bought a Lobiani. Actually it was a Rachuli Lobiani _ which I love very much, but it was really large for just me to eat and so it was considered (by me) that we both could eat it, but she didn’t want it so I had to eat it all by myself and I did and I wish I had not, because it was huge, as I told you, and I could barely breathe after eating it. It was delicious, though, and that’s why I could eat all of it, I  guess. That is a great fast food in Georgia and if you happen to visit this country, you should definitely taste Rachuli Lobiani, and if you happen to visit Racha _ then tasting Rachuli Lobiani is a must! So, remember that! Well, then we studied some things, then my friend’s sister came home and she is a great person, her humour is just remarkable and listening to her is just crazy. She also brought some stuff and ice-creams and she offered us to prepare cold coffee. Well, that sounded great and I said yes. She prepares lots of stuff, I can say. The coffee was good, especially with that ice-cream in it! We talked and laughed and although they suggested me staying there for that night, I wanted to come home and then it was kind of late when I left their apartment. However, it was not raining and I could easily get home. I walked to metro station and went by metro and then walked to my apartment, too, as there were no buses, or if they were you would have to wait for them for ages, and, well, walking is healthier and so I went home.

Well, I want to tell you, that this day went as planned. Although it was raining cats and dogs and I had to go to some places and that was not very good, but still it was good. Then I went to my friend’s apartment, where we practiced some university stuff and watched some pretty useful videos and then I went home very pleased. Getting home I felt that I was tired, but that’s my thing _ when I get home I can’t feel that tiredness anymoreand couldn’t really sleep, so I just did some things, until it was kind of late for everything and then the time was _ the time to sleep!

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