Easter
Description:
"Easter" means "transition." This is the eternal transition from death to life, from earth to heaven. In preparation for Easter (Holy Week), Greeks must go to church all week. All the temples in the country are crowded these days. In Greece, Orthodoxy is the state religion and the church is not separate from the state. More than 90% of the population are Orthodox Christians. Therefore, Easter is a national holiday, the second most important after Christmas.
Two days before Easter, life in the cities stops. All state institutions have been closed and flags have been lowered. On Good Friday, the streets of the city make a procession with the Shroud decorated with rose petals. On this day it is considered a sin to work with a hammer and nails - in memory of the Savior nailed to the cross. At the meal, eat only sesame soup and lentils with vinegar. On Good Tuesday, sweet cookies are baked - "kuluraki", and on Great Thursday, eggs are painted, mainly in red.
It's Easter Eve. On Holy Saturday, a solemn Easter service is held, during which in complete darkness everyone lights their candles from a single burning candle and spreads the fire throughout the temple. At midnight, the priests say, “Christ Anestes!” At these moments, the whole of Greece is resounding with joyful cries and universal rejoicing - "Alitos anestes" ("Really risen"). Hundreds of firecrackers and fireworks soar into the sky. Easter begins, glorifying the Resurrection of Christ.
So, in the squares in front of the churches, huge Easter bonfires burn, and fireworks and firecrackers explode in the sky. With lit candles and joy in the soul, after talking with friends and acquaintances, people go home to light lamps in front of the icons from Easter candles. Magiritsa appears on the table, the purpose of which is to prepare the stomach of long fasting people for a plentiful Sunday meal. People roll on the table painted Easter eggs consecrated in the church. It is believed that those whose egg survives in this “competition” will have a good year. Another point – if before Easter everyone greeted each other with the words: “Kalo Easter” (“Good Easter”), then after it they say “Chronya floor” (“Many summers”).
On Sunday, after the morning service in churches and the chime of bells from noon throughout Greece, in homes and outdoors, with the confluence of relatives and friends, a large feast with traditional lamb and wine is held. Young people and old people dance to celebrate their brightest holiday of the year.
The procession in Greece is not the same as in Russian churches. Everyone does not go around the temple, but with singing and lighted candles head through the city streets to the central square. Here, in front of a crowd of thousands, a symbolic burning of Judas takes place. The holiday is gaining momentum, in the air there is noise and rumble from a myriad of pops. And, what is quite unusual, exactly at midnight, after the solemn reading of the Gospel, a grandiose fireworks display begins. The sky is lit with hundreds of colored lights.
Easter is most celebrated on the island of Corfu. Celebrations begin long before her. On Lazarus Saturday, children go from house to house chanting about the resurrection of Lazarus and collect eggs and money. On Tuesday of Holy Week, the hostess bakes Easter bread. Wednesday is about cleaning and washing the house. On Thursday, they paint eggs, take communion, and in the evening the girls decorate with garlands of flowers symbolic stretchers on which the body of the Lord will be laid after His removal from the cross. Friday is a day of mourning. Everyone shows special abstinence in eating, talking, behavior. On this day, no one should take a hammer, nails or needles in their hands - this is considered a great sin. In the afternoon, after the end of the service, colorful processions “epitafios” come out of the doors of all temples. They merge into one powerful stream of people that flows through the city streets until the night. Each procession is headed by an orchestra or choir performing spiritual works. Sacred stretchers are accompanied by church ministers, honorary citizens, students, scouts, military, and parishioners singing church hymns. In this majestic procession, almost the entire population of Corfu takes part. The parishioners of each church try to make their procession look the most solemn.
The next day, on Holy Saturday, at exactly eleven, after the end of the service in the cathedral, hearing the sounds of the church bell, the residents, in accordance with the ancient pagan tradition, begin to throw out of the windows directly onto the pavement huge clay jugs with water. It is believed that during the year all the bad and evil that got into the house was collected in them, and now, along with the jug, there is a deliverance from the accumulated evil.
Among the many Greek folk customs associated with the celebration of Easter, there are exotic. Residents of the village of Vrontadi on the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea justify the name of their small homeland, derived from the word "thunder", with a whole rain of jokes. At the same time, the fireworks take the character of a “fight” between two churches located opposite each other on the slopes of the valley. Near each church, a horizontally large sheet of shingles is installed, on which firecrackers are laid. At the appointed moment, firecrackers fly out towards each other and collide in the night sky. Eyewitnesses say that the spectacle is fantastic. Locals assure that it sets them up for the festive mood.
At the Easter meal, they eat the traditional soup of lamb giblets - a magician, which is prepared in advance, on Saturday. Recina is the first wine of last year’s harvest. In nature, they arrange wide feasts and picnics, roast young lambs on fires. In Thessaloniki, the city municipality arranges for everyone - both locals and visitors - a free treat: wine, meat and necessarily red Easter eggs with sweet cureka are displayed on the tables. Songs and Greek dances do not cease until the morning and continue throughout the Bright Week. Greek schoolchildren’s Easter holidays last 15 days.
Russian people living in Greece, where possible, go to Russian churches or to the nearest Greek. Pilgrims from Russia celebrate Easter and on the Holy Mount Athos, where the Russian St. Panteleimon monastery is located.