Traditions and  easter food from all over Greece

Greek Easter Traditions

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Easter Sunday (Kyriaki tou Pascha) is a joyful day of celebration, the most favorite of all days of the year for Greeks. Due to the great Mediterranean weather, families, relatives, and friends gather before noon, mainly in the countryside to prepare the festive Easter Sunday meal. A cooking fire is set up outdoor where a whole lamb is roasted for many hours. It is accompanied by side dishes such as tzatziki, roasted potatoes, Greek salad and plenty of wine, ouzo, and raki. Then they all sit around a long table, for a long lunch accompanied by drinking, singing, and dancing until late at night.

The funerary procession of Epitaphios (mourning for the death and burial of Christ) takes place during Great Friday (Megali Paraskevi) throughout Greece. Church bells ring mournfully all day, a symbolic coffin representing Christ’s tomb is carried through the streets by the believers during the evening and people follow it in a quiet procession.

For Greeks, Easter is the biggest religious holiday of the year. Although many of the celebrations have roots to pre-Christian times – the Elysian mysteries in ancient Greece were also a celebration of rebirth after death when in winter everything dies and in spring they’re born again – today in Greece, Easter celebrations have a direct connection with the Orthodox faith. Preparation for Easter begins with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.xpatathens.com/living-in-athens/survival-guide/greek-traditions/item/2660-kathara-deutera-clean-monday-in-greece">Kathara Deutera</a>&nbsp;(Clean Monday), which is the first day of lent. During lent, which lasts for forty days before Easter, one is not supposed to eat anything that comes form animals with blood in its veins. Basically, that means no meat, fish, milk, cheese and egg.

η Μεγάλη Εβδομάδα : the holy week η Μεγάλη Παρασκευή : Good Friday το Μεγάλο Σάββατο : Easter Saturday κρέας : meat ψάρι : fisch λαχανικά : vegetables νηστεύω : The verb “to fast” τα νηστίσιμα (φαγητά) : Food you are allowed to eat in case you are fasting ο παππάς : the priest το αρνί : lamb το κατσίκι : goat το κοκορέτσι : a grilled dish made basically from the intestines of lamb/goat ο χορτοφάγος: vegetarian How you can greet each other from “Kathara Devtera” till Greek Easter Kαλή Σαρακοστή : (we wish you a nice 40 days) χρόνια πολλά : means “Many years”. You can use this also for birthdays, name days, Christmas, etc… Καλό Πάσχα : Happy Easter Καλή Ανάσταση : “Have a nice resurrection” Χριστός Ανέστη : “Christ resurrected” (you can only say this from Easter Saturday midnight till some weeks after that) Αληθώς Ανέστη: “Yes, Christ truly resurrected” (you can only use this as an answer to “Christos Anesti”) &nbsp;

The tsoureki is type of soft and puffy sweet bread or brioche that was originally made only during Easter time. Over the years, however, it became so popular in Greece that most bakeries make it in different shapes and sizes all year round. The Easter tsoureki is particularly special though because it is braided with three different pieces of dough, which represent the Holy Trinity, while a red baked egg is placed in the middle.

Chocolate Eggs and Bunnies

&nbsp;Although the chocolate eggs and bunnies are not a Greek tradition, they have become an integral part of the Greek Easter, with shops and grocery stores filled with them during Springtime. John Cadbury, the founder of the famous British Cadbury chocolate, created the first chocolate egg in 1875, and since then chocolate eggs and bunnies have conquered Europe’s Easter celebrations. The very first eggs were made from solid chocolate wrapped in plain paper, but later, with the discovery of another method of processing chocolate, European confectioners managed to shape their eggs into eggshells and put candies or little surprises inside them.

The big week, or as it is known in Greek ‘Megali Evdomada,’ is the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Despite it being an ordinary work week, shops have&nbsp;<a href="http://www.xpatathens.com/living-in-athens/what-s-new/local-news/item/1408-shop-hours-in-athens-easter-2016">special hours</a>, there are&nbsp;<a href="http://www.xpatathens.com/living-in-athens/taste-experience/city-discovery/item/2871-most-beautiful-churches-to-celebrate-easter-in-athens">church services</a>&nbsp;every evening, and many people clean and prepare their homes in preparation for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.xpatathens.com/living-in-athens/taste-experience/greek-flavours/item/1415-how-to-host-a-traditional-greek-easter-feast">big feast of Easter Sunday</a>

Holy Week is essentially a revival of Jesus´ last days when the Orthodox Church relives the last week of the life of Jesus

The lambada  - Η λαμπάδα- Τhe candle

The lambada surely brings back special childhood memories, associated with our beloved godparents. The lambada is a candle – can be of any colour but is usually white – and is decorated with crafts, accessories and all sort of designs, for both kids and adults. According to the tradition, godparents buy the lambada for their nieces and nephews as a special Easter gift, and it is lightened up with the Holy Light during the Epitaph parade and the day of Anastasi. This custom dates back to the early Christian period and had two main symbolisms. Firstly, it represented the new light of Christ that would enlighten the soul of those that were being baptised on the night of the Resurrection or on Easter Sunday. Secondly, the candle was the symbol of the light that Lord Jesus Christ brought into the world, by overcoming death and consequently the darkness with His Resurrection.

Over the centuries, as the connection of the lit candle with baptism ceased to exist, and Christians were baptised all throughout the year and not only during Easter, the Orthodox Church kept only the second part of the symbolism of the lambada that brings light and hope into our world today.

Great Saturday and Anastasi

The end of 40-day Lent and the resurrection of Christ are celebrated midnight on Great Saturday (Megalo Savvato). All people go to the church before midnight keeping their special candles, called Lambades for the Eternal Flame. A few moments before midnight the lights are switched off everywhere. The highlight of the Easter celebrations is during Anastasi, as when the clock strikes 12, the priest announces “Cristos Anesti!” (Christ is risen!) and people start greeting each other while many fireworks, crackers but also shotguns start firing to announce the happy moment. The Great Saturday Dinner takes place after midnight and consists of the traditional Magiritsa, made by the offal of the lamb and the cracking (tsougrisma) of the red eggs.

Dyed Eggs and Tsougrisma

The most popular Easter tradition in Greece is the boiling and painting of eggs with red colour. In fact, the egg has been an ancient symbol of life and death in many different cultures and religions. Numerous ancient scripts that have been found, showed that first the Greeks and then the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Aztecs, Maya, and even the Vikings, believed that life on Earth began from a huge egg, and associated eggs with the rebirth of nature. In Orthodoxy, eggs are painted red because they symbolise the blood and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. After the Anastasi or on Easter Sunday, families gather at their dinner table and do the “tsougrisma” of the eggs, a fun game for children and adults. Everyone picks an egg and attempts to crack other people’s eggs by hitting one egg on top of another. Whoever gets their egg cracked loses the game, while the person with no cracks on their egg, wins and is said to receive good luck all year round.

Λαμπάδες-Candles  Fireworks- Πυροτεχνήματα

Great Thursday On Great Thursday (Megali Pempti), Easter preparations begin with the dyeing of red eggs. Unlike the Easter eggs in other countries, the Greek Easter eggs can only be found in the red color, representing the blood of Christ. Commemorating the Last Supper, sweet Easter bread, called Tsoureki is being baked. During the special Great Thursday evening service, a traditional symbolic crucifixion takes place while women mourn through the night.

Τraditional Magiritsa ( Greek Easter Soup)

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