Greece: Symbolism of the lamb on a spit on Easter (video)

Why on Easter Sunday in Greece it is customary to bake a whole lamb on a spit, and who opposes this?

The Greeks around the world, regardless of the place of residence, the smell and the appearance of a lamb, slowly rotating on a spit above the coals, are associated with Easter Sunday. But this is not just a culinary tradition, but also a rich religious symbolism.

John, the author of one of the four Gospels, called Jesus the Lamb of God in John 1:29 and John 1:36. In this story, Abraham was supposed to sacrifice an animal, for example, a lamb or a ram, as an important part of the Jewish religion. People offered God a compensation for the sins that they committed.

But Christ died on the cross for their sins, becoming a sacrificial lamb, and Christians no longer need to make sacrifices. Since we recall the victim of Jesus on Easter, we eat a lamb in memory of his disinterested act, tells GreekrePorter.

The symbolism of the Lamb goes back to the Old Testament and the Jewish Easter. It is associated with the outcome of the Jewish people from Egypt. Before going into a great outcome, God through Moses commanded the Jews to gather in small groups; Each family was supposed to sacrifice the lamb. Families were supposed to march their doors with the blood of the lamb so that they were not exterminated by the angel of God, who on that night to send an epidemic on the first -born of each family, if the house was not marked with the blood of the lamb.

That night, every Jewish family sacrificed the lamb to the salvation of all people. They ate the lamb, without breaking his bones, along with fresh bread and bitter herbs. Then they marked their doors with the blood of the lamb.

Later, Christians adopted the symbol of the sacrificial lamb, since John the Baptist compared Jesus Christ with the “Lamb of God”, who will free the world from sins by his victim.

Today, the Greeks spend the morning of Easter Sunday, slowly baking the lamb, and then the whole family gathers at the table to eat. All preparation and turning of the vertel is a collective experience that unites people on holy day.

In recent years, some began to criticize this tradition, claiming that it is barbaric. Every year, hundreds of thousands of lambs are scored throughout the country. In many cases, especially in the villages, the face occurs in the open air, often in the eyes of children. Human procedures are not always observed.

According to the dead Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, the “barbaric custom” of baking the lamb on a spit should no longer remain part of the Greek Easter. Speaking against the brutal handling of animals, the great composer wrote:

“Easter is approaching again. The days of the killing of innocent animals are approaching for the sake of barbaric [праздника]who had to disappear for a long time. ”

In recent years, animal protection organizations have arranged protests in Athens and other Greek cities against the annual Easter tradition. Nevertheless, many adhere to it, and in the next video you can see how to properly bake a lamb:

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