Easter in Greece

The editors of the Athenian news site, congratulates all our readers on the holiday . Easter in Greece is a noisy, interesting, full of joy and love for the neighbor's holiday.

For the Greeks, this is not only a religious, but also a secular triumph, whose idea is based on the desire for resurrection, awakening, light.

Therefore, in Greece, Easter is usually noted by fireworks, incendiary dances, pleasant gifts, a lamb on a spit and wonderful home baking, as well as purely national traditions

The country's population is 97% of Orthodox Christians, pious, respecting traditions, and therefore religious rites in Greece are strong and colorful.

The joy of the resurrection

The Greek Church basically focuses not on the suffering of Christ, but on the joy of His resurrection.

The peculiarity of Easter in Greek is already noticeable from the resurrection, which is called the Rule, and in Greece-palm, in honor of the branch, which was in the hands of the Lord at the entrance to Jerusalem.

The priest, according to tradition, gives the parishioners crosses from palm leaves and stems of myrte, stored by the Greeks behind the icons throughout the next year.

Then a passionate week begins, in which it is customary to go to church every day. During the passionate week, Greek housewives are preparing for the holiday: they bake the sand cookies “kuluraka” in the form of bagels, stain Easter eggs in red, carefully cleaned in the house, and purchase gifts. Another traditional Easter dish in Greece is the soup of the Magicitsa, which is made of sheep giblets, with the addition of whipped eggs and lemon juice.

By great Friday, public services stop working, flags are lowered: everyone is preparing for the procession. The most grave sin for believing Greeks on this day is the workshops with the help of a hammer and nails, symbolizing the crucifixion of Christ.

And on Great Saturday, according to tradition, to Athens a special flight from Jerusalem delivers a fertile fire. They meet the main symbol of Easter with all the splendor and solemnity. The honorary guard and the procession through the streets are required.

Further, the fertile fire will be delivered to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Athens, and the small lanterns in which its particle lives will be unheated throughout Greece and delivered to the most distant Greek islands.

The solemn church service for Easter in Greece is also based on a celebration of a fertile fire. The pitch darkness is gradually illuminated by the lights of candles, lit from one, until the light won the final victory.

Easter night in Greece Little with comparable in its colorfulness and friendly atmosphere. United by one common joy, people are not brotherly on the streets. Everyone, from small to large, dresses in the most ceremonial clothes, in women on the head of a new hairstyle, children have elegant candles decorated with fabulous figures, and someone even has candles with the symbols of their favorite football club.

The Greeks acts as an Easter cake Tsareks. The custom of “clutching” with painted eggs is also present here, and for a long time, hardly boiled eggs will be wandered from home to the house as Easter gifts until they finally find their last refuge …

Traditions are signs

The flame of a candle in Greece is customary to draw a cross on the door before entering the house. The Greeks believe that this will protect the family from misfortunes. In Greece, there is a tradition by which the procession is directed from the cathedral to the central square of the city to one of the climax of the action. In some places, believers burn the figure of Judas. In other places of the country, reading the gospel story about the resurrection of the Savior in the church is accompanied by an extreme noise: parishioners knock on wooden stairs and benches with sticks in words about earthquakes in Jerusalem.

Easter feast in Greek

On bright Sunday in the yards and on the lawns, according to tradition, lamb is fried. In addition, Easter is a wonderful occasion to uncork the wine of last year's crop. For many years on this day, as usual, municipal festive tables have been covered in Saloniki: hundreds of lambs are fried on a spit, they distribute eggs, wine and sweet churex to local residents and guests of the city.

In Greece on Easter, Greek songs and dances that last until the morning and do not subside throughout the bright week are an indispensable number.

Easter in Greece is especially loved by children. And this is not surprising. After all, the Easter holidays of Greek students continue for two weeks, and all children in Greece must receive gifts from their godly fathers and mothers at Easter (in Greece, the name is officially assigned only after the baptism of the child, but in the last 25 years the Greeks can arrange the name of the child and in the municipality, only 10% of the population resort to a civilian act).

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