Easter or Pascha in Greek is the most important religious holiday of the Orthodox Church celebrating the resurrection of Christ and the chance of rebirth for mankind. It is a HUGE celebration in Greece!
Easter preparations began on Thursday the 2nd May (long after Easter celebration in England). In the evening we baked special cookies and dyed eggs red because red is the colour of life, it also represents Jesus's blood.
Friday is the saddest day because it is a day of mourning. Nobody is allowed to work or even cook.
Also on Friday everyone went to the church in the evening to listen to the priests sing their songs. Then at 10 O'clock at night there was a march through the centre of Pothia with a symbolic coffin of Jesus, which is called a Epitaph.
Every church makes their own Epitaph elaborately decorated with flowers and beautiful fabrics. The priests and all of the Kalymnians dress up in their best clothes with little girls dressed in white. People carry the candles through the town centre following the Epitaph.
Also there is a very strange tradition in Kalymnos where they throw big and small explosive dynamites to celebrate things. Therefore you can hear massive explosions throughout the Easter Week. People even leave their windows opened for the night because the vibration of the dynamites can shatter the glass.
Next day-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.
Another peculiar tradition that takes place on Holy saturday is the burning of Judas (the person who betrayed Jesus). People from every church make their own puppet of Judas out of old ragged clothes. After they make Judas people hang him on a long piece of string next to the church for a few days until they burn him on Holy Saturday.
Holy saturday is a day of intense movement and activity. People are preparing for a Sunday feast. The traditional dish that Kalymnians cook is Mououri-The whole lamb stuffed with rice red sauce and many spices. It is cooked in deep round ceramic pot in a huge oven outside the house, Here it is...
Although the family we live with grilled a goat instead of a lamb which was delicious to mum but I preferred chips.
The Holy Saturday ends with a midnight service of the resurrection which is an occasion attended by everyone who is able, including children, each holding a special candle. I had such a candle too.
We also went to the midnight service and I was given one of these special candles to hold. Mine was blue and white with silver anchor. The service was was awesome and very interesting but tiring because I had to stay up late. When the clock passed midnight the priests called out "Cristos anesti " (Christ is risen), and passed the flame to those nearest to him. We also lit our candles from this flame, and had to carry it home carefully.
When we got home we had a midnight meal with a special soup which had lamb guts and rice in it. It sounds disgusting but it was actually quite tasty.
On Easter Sunday we had a huge feast and everyone was happy and jolly.
After the feast we went to Pothia (the capital of Kalymnos) to see a dynamite competition. Me and my mum went to Agious Savvas monastery to the mountain where they were throwing dynamites from. It was very loud and a bit scary because you could feel your heart vibrating in your chest.
It was quite a spectacular ending to the Easter celebration!
Easter preparations began on Thursday the 2nd May (long after Easter celebration in England). In the evening we baked special cookies and dyed eggs red because red is the colour of life, it also represents Jesus's blood.
Also on Friday everyone went to the church in the evening to listen to the priests sing their songs. Then at 10 O'clock at night there was a march through the centre of Pothia with a symbolic coffin of Jesus, which is called a Epitaph.
Every church makes their own Epitaph elaborately decorated with flowers and beautiful fabrics. The priests and all of the Kalymnians dress up in their best clothes with little girls dressed in white. People carry the candles through the town centre following the Epitaph.
Also there is a very strange tradition in Kalymnos where they throw big and small explosive dynamites to celebrate things. Therefore you can hear massive explosions throughout the Easter Week. People even leave their windows opened for the night because the vibration of the dynamites can shatter the glass.
Next day-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.
Another peculiar tradition that takes place on Holy saturday is the burning of Judas (the person who betrayed Jesus). People from every church make their own puppet of Judas out of old ragged clothes. After they make Judas people hang him on a long piece of string next to the church for a few days until they burn him on Holy Saturday.
Although the family we live with grilled a goat instead of a lamb which was delicious to mum but I preferred chips.
The Holy Saturday ends with a midnight service of the resurrection which is an occasion attended by everyone who is able, including children, each holding a special candle. I had such a candle too.
We also went to the midnight service and I was given one of these special candles to hold. Mine was blue and white with silver anchor. The service was was awesome and very interesting but tiring because I had to stay up late. When the clock passed midnight the priests called out "Cristos anesti " (Christ is risen), and passed the flame to those nearest to him. We also lit our candles from this flame, and had to carry it home carefully.
When we got home we had a midnight meal with a special soup which had lamb guts and rice in it. It sounds disgusting but it was actually quite tasty.
On Easter Sunday we had a huge feast and everyone was happy and jolly.
After the feast we went to Pothia (the capital of Kalymnos) to see a dynamite competition. Me and my mum went to Agious Savvas monastery to the mountain where they were throwing dynamites from. It was very loud and a bit scary because you could feel your heart vibrating in your chest.
It was quite a spectacular ending to the Easter celebration!
That's certainly a lot more elaborate than any Easter celebration I have ever seen. Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post! Looking forward for news from you
ReplyDeleteSo strange traditions. And thank you for telling - so interesting. Vika Velichko
ReplyDeleteHi Sasha,
ReplyDeleteWe have been reading your posts and find them very interesting. It seems like you are having a fantastic time. We only have a few weeks left of school before the summer holidays.
Keep writing your blog and adding pictures!
Class 4/5M