Easter in Greece

 Many people falsely believe that us Greeks have our own Easter, because it is not celebrated on the same time period as most European countries. Well, this is not absolutely true. I mean, we do celebrate Easter on a different time, but it is not because it is greek -it is actually the orthodox Easter. During my Erasmus, many people were asking me about the differences between Catholics and Orthodoxes, since most of my friends were Catholic and they couldn't figure out if there were such strong differences. I am not going to blather about religion in this entry, because it is not what the blog is here for, but what I can say with one word is, no, we do not have so serious differences. This is just my opinion, because I evaluate being Christian as more important than being Catholic or Orthodox. What I can do here is write down some information about our Easter, so that the Erasmus in Greece will understand our traditions without perceiving them as absolutely impossible to understand.

The Easter day changes from year to year -to be honest, I do not know the exact criterion. I do know, though, that this year it is on April 13th. On Monday, March 3rd, the fourty days countdown to Easter begins. This day is called Clean Monday and I have already written about it on another entry. The week before Easter is called the Great Week and there is a series of events during those days:

• Even if you were eating meat after Clean Monday (because many people choose to continue eating meat those days, besides the tradition), during the Great Week most families stop eating meat. This depends on how strict you are regarding religious traditions. I mean, for some just meat is out of the table, for others it is meat and dairy and this varies during the week -I'll get there.

• Every afternoon, there is a different psalm in the church and many families go there all together.

• Each day of the Great Week has the adjective “Great” before its name: Great Monday, Great Tuesday etc... The only day of the week that changes this series is Sunday, which is called “Easter Sunday”. Great Monday marks the beginning of the mass, as well as the fasting. On Great Tuesday and Great Wednesday, the church attendance keeps going on, so that people will “prepare” themselves for Great Thursday.

• On Great Thursday, the families prepare the Easter eggs, as well as the “tsoureki”, which is sort of a sweet bread, like a brioche or a ban. The Easter eggs are supposed to be red, this is the tradition, because it represents Christ's blood. During the past decades, though, some families paint the eggs with various colours. In the middle of the tsoureki bun, there is also a red egg, as part of its decoration. Painting the eggs is not difficult -though it can get quite messy! There is paint which you can buy at the supermarket. You mix it with water and put it in a large bowl. Then, you add some already boiled eggs to this bowl and wait until they are painted. You shouldn't leave them there too much, because then the technical colour will go through the outside of the egg to its inside and then you'll have to throw it away, you will not be able to eat it -this requires a whole lot of punctuation to when you take the eggs away of the coloured water, because if not many of them will be wasted. A solution to this and sort of a trick of the older generations was to use an onion in order to make the red paint. This way, there are no preservatives, just an absolutely natural colour that cannot cause any type of harm. As far as the tsoureki bun is concerned, many families make their own, but there are also many types of it sold in bakeries and pastry shops, usually filled with praline or chocolate, although the traditional tsoureki is just plain, with no filling. Be careful though: the families do make those stuff on Great Thursday, but they can't eat them until Easter Sunday -because of the fasting, which allow eggs on your diet. The tsoureki has eggs too, so its off limits as well!

• On Great Thursday, at night, we have the ritual of the crucifixion. After that, the epitaph is put in the middle of the church and people go and put flowers all over it.

• Great Friday is the saddest day of the Great Week, but also the most holly day of the Passion Week. It symbolizes Jesus' trial by Pontius Pilate, the path until the Golgotha, the Crucifixion and, eventually, the Burial. After the service, every parish takes the Epitaph and walks around the neighbourhood -it could be around the town, the street or, at least, around the church.

• Great Saturday is the celebration of the Ressurection. The time varies around Greece. Some churches celebrate it in the morning service, while others at midnight. After 21:00 people go to church carrying candles. At midnight, all the church's lights are out and the Priest calls the people to come and receive the Light. It's the Holy Light which reaches Greece and all its churches after being brought here with a special flight all the way from Jerusalem. After the Gospel of the Resurrection, usually in the courtyard of the church, the priest marks Christ's resurrection by singing the Risen Christ. There are fireworks in the sky to celebrate this moment and people light up their candles with the Holy Light. Each person lets the person next to them light up their own candle using the Light from theirs. They usually share a kiss on the cheek, which is called “love's kiss” and it symbolizes the celebration of the Resurrection.

• Back at home, people have a “fight” with the red eggs. Every two people crash their eggs against each other, lightly, and they see which one breaks. The one that doesn't break, keeps “fighting” the eggs of other people in the house. The egg that doesn't get broken in the egg is the winner and the person holding it is supposed to have luck. Afterwards, everyone eats their eggs!

• People also eat a special soup, called “mageiritsa”. There's vegetables, meat (lamb) and liver in it. It is supposed to give people strength, because of the proteins, since they weren't eating meat for fourty days.

• On Easter Sunday, the celebration continues. We usually gather in places with yards, in order to cook lamb on the spit. If this isn't possible, many families also cook the lamb in the oven. In my family, we always use goat's meat, because the lamb has too much fat and we do not like its taste that much. There are also other meals on the table, like more red eggs, green salads, baked potatoes and various types of bread. A traditional bread we serve on this day is called “Christ's Bread”. It's sort of an Easter bagel and you could either buy it or make it at home -it's not that different from a “normal” bread, it's just that it has some more sesame on it and it contains some aromatic herbs etc. I don't like the fact that the traditional recipee includes aniseed, because I can't eat it. So, when we buy this kind of bread, we ask for one without aniseed -usually, the more plain ones don't contain it, exactly for people like me who don't eat it. Also, its shape is very different than an everyday bread and it has a cross on it.

• Easter in Greece is a very nice experience and it's usually an occasion to get away and spend those days in the countryside. If you are an erasmus student and want to go somewhere outside of Athens for Easter, here are some islands famous for their Easter celebration and traditions: Kerkyra, Patmos, Creta, Hydra, Mykonos, Chios, Monemvasia and Syros.