We're in Greece at the moment, where Easter this year is a week late, so this post is for those who celebrate today!
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Fasting food
During Holy Week, most Greeks (even those who haven't fasted during Lent - ahem) cut out meat from their diets and eat food that is plainer and less rich than usual. When at home this involves various types of soup (fish, lentil, chickpea, beans, you name it) and things like vegetable stews, boiled potatoes and pasta. Not terribly inspiring, but I guess that's the idea. This is what we eat when we go out for a meal at a taverna:
Every good meal starts with a generous bread basket. This one also includes some mini-sandwiches. Not sure what the filling was, but it was suitable for those fasting from dairy, so it definitely wasn't cheese, and it was also very spicy.
Then comes the salad. Vegetables in Greece are for the most part seasonal, and it's too early for tomatoes, so we had lettuce instead.
Meat is substituted by seafood. Grilled octopus is a delicacy worth fasting for!
Fried squid is another popular dish.
This is prawn pilaf, a dish made with rice, tomato sauce, herbs and prawns.
As you would expect, there are also several vegetable dishes. Fried courgettes are served with garlic dip.
So is boiled beetroot. Beetroot is usually served with a yoghurt sauce, but for fasting purposes this is replaced by a generous helping of garlic dip, made with mashed potatoes and crushed garlic. Smelly but nice.
These are patties made with fish roe, the same stuff that's used in taramosalata. Very salty and (according to hubby) very much an aquired taste.
Every good meal starts with a generous bread basket. This one also includes some mini-sandwiches. Not sure what the filling was, but it was suitable for those fasting from dairy, so it definitely wasn't cheese, and it was also very spicy.
Then comes the salad. Vegetables in Greece are for the most part seasonal, and it's too early for tomatoes, so we had lettuce instead.
Meat is substituted by seafood. Grilled octopus is a delicacy worth fasting for!
Fried squid is another popular dish.
This is prawn pilaf, a dish made with rice, tomato sauce, herbs and prawns.
As you would expect, there are also several vegetable dishes. Fried courgettes are served with garlic dip.
So is boiled beetroot. Beetroot is usually served with a yoghurt sauce, but for fasting purposes this is replaced by a generous helping of garlic dip, made with mashed potatoes and crushed garlic. Smelly but nice.
These are patties made with fish roe, the same stuff that's used in taramosalata. Very salty and (according to hubby) very much an aquired taste.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
A church service and a walk in the park
Today is Holy Wednesday, traditionally the day when children in particular receive a sacrament called Euchelaion (from the words euche meaning "prayer", and elaion meaning "oil"). This involves attending a short church service, followed by a blessing. The priest dips cotton wool in specially blessed olive oil and uses it to make the sign of the cross on children's foreheads. After a morning spent shopping for Easter gifts, the goddaughter and I attended this church service.
We arrived early to have a look around the church. As you can see, it's decorated in purple - the colour of mourning in Greece, along with black.
Hundreds of people attended the church service. Luckily everyone made orderly queues (well, by Greek standards anyway).
There was a stand outside the church for those who wanted to take some of the blessed oil back home to those members of the family unable to attend.
What you had to do is take a piece of cotton wool, dip it in oil and wrap it in aluminium foil for safe carrying. Easy peasy.
After the service, we went for a walk at the local park.
Spring has definitely sprung - a little early this year it seems. Not that we're complaining, the weather's perfect at the moment, not too hot and not too cool.
There were peacocks roaming freely in the park, and we got to see several with beautiful fanned-out tails.
The birds seemed used to having people walk around them, trying to feed them or take photos. This young man in particular was keen to pose for us.
We arrived early to have a look around the church. As you can see, it's decorated in purple - the colour of mourning in Greece, along with black.
Hundreds of people attended the church service. Luckily everyone made orderly queues (well, by Greek standards anyway).
There was a stand outside the church for those who wanted to take some of the blessed oil back home to those members of the family unable to attend.
What you had to do is take a piece of cotton wool, dip it in oil and wrap it in aluminium foil for safe carrying. Easy peasy.
After the service, we went for a walk at the local park.
Spring has definitely sprung - a little early this year it seems. Not that we're complaining, the weather's perfect at the moment, not too hot and not too cool.
There were peacocks roaming freely in the park, and we got to see several with beautiful fanned-out tails.
The birds seemed used to having people walk around them, trying to feed them or take photos. This young man in particular was keen to pose for us.
Easter candles
One of the most imporant traditions of Greek Easter is the Easter candle, a decorated candle that children (and sometimes adults) take to church on Saturday night for the midnight Easter service. The candle is lit just after midnight once the priest announces that "Christ has risen". It is traditional for godparents to buy Easter candles for their godchildren, along with special Easter bread and shoes or clothes.
Today my goddaughter and I went shopping for her candle. After looking at way too many Easter candle displays and arguing over a Hello Kitty candle that came with a cushion, a hula hoop and a dizzying price tag, we chose a more moderate fuschia candle with a necklace wrapped round it, which she will be able to wear after Easter. When you're 9, fuschia pink and sparkly bits are a winning combination, even if your heart's set on a HK Easter box.
We also bought tsoureki, a rich brioche-like bread traditionally eaten at Easter. Tsourekis are decorated with eggs, dyed crimson to remind us of the blood shed by Christ. Note the matching nail polish.
New trainers completed the gift pack. We chose a pair with fuschia pink and silver straps to match the Easter candle.
Afterwards, we stopped at a cafe for refreshments and a well-earned rest.
Luckily it was warm enough to enjoy cold drinks al fresco. Some of us even pretended they were on a lounger.
Today my goddaughter and I went shopping for her candle. After looking at way too many Easter candle displays and arguing over a Hello Kitty candle that came with a cushion, a hula hoop and a dizzying price tag, we chose a more moderate fuschia candle with a necklace wrapped round it, which she will be able to wear after Easter. When you're 9, fuschia pink and sparkly bits are a winning combination, even if your heart's set on a HK Easter box.
We also bought tsoureki, a rich brioche-like bread traditionally eaten at Easter. Tsourekis are decorated with eggs, dyed crimson to remind us of the blood shed by Christ. Note the matching nail polish.
New trainers completed the gift pack. We chose a pair with fuschia pink and silver straps to match the Easter candle.
Afterwards, we stopped at a cafe for refreshments and a well-earned rest.
Luckily it was warm enough to enjoy cold drinks al fresco. Some of us even pretended they were on a lounger.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Signs of Easter
Easter is round the corner and there's evidence of it all around.
Easter candles are on sale. Kids will take these to church for the Resurrection sevice on Saturday night.
There's an abundance of special cakes in the cake shops. Many people give up dairy products for Lent, so can only eat sweets made without milk or butter. Syrup sweets made with nuts, filo and sugar, are commonly consumed during this period.
And for those not fasting, there are chocolate bunnies and chickens on a stick!
What does Easter look like where you are?
Easter candles are on sale. Kids will take these to church for the Resurrection sevice on Saturday night.
There's an abundance of special cakes in the cake shops. Many people give up dairy products for Lent, so can only eat sweets made without milk or butter. Syrup sweets made with nuts, filo and sugar, are commonly consumed during this period.
And for those not fasting, there are chocolate bunnies and chickens on a stick!
What does Easter look like where you are?
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
The world's gone to pot
Today is the 12th Day of Christmas - the last day for decorations to be taken down, as Christmas celebrations traditionally end on Twelfth Night. So I guess, technically, in England it's still Christmas.
In Greece, the holiday season is going strong, culminating in the Feast of the Epiphany on 6th January.
In Russia, most people haven't even celebrated Christmas, as the Russian Orthodox church still uses the Julian calendar, which has Christmas falling on 7th January.
In Spain, kids are waiting to open their Christmas presents tomorrow, during the Fiesta de Los Reyes Magos.
The Met Office is predicting snow all over the UK (up to 15 cm in places like Manchester and Ceredigion, Wales).
Meanwhile....
...supermarkets across the UK are selling Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. You may be blissfully unawares, but it's only 88 days to Easter - that's a fact. If you don't start buying your chocolate eggs now, you may soon run out of time and have to endure (shock, horror) a chocolate-less Easter.
In case you think this is too weird to be true, I have photographic proof for you. Yes, I bought Easter chocolate on 5th January. Unbelievable but true.
In my defence, it was for a noble cause (i.e. blogging) - and I managed to resist the temptation of the buy-one-get-one-free packs of freshly baked hot cross buns.
Those Cadbury's Dairy Milk Caramel Bunnies are actually rather nice. Just saying.
In Greece, the holiday season is going strong, culminating in the Feast of the Epiphany on 6th January.
In Russia, most people haven't even celebrated Christmas, as the Russian Orthodox church still uses the Julian calendar, which has Christmas falling on 7th January.
In Spain, kids are waiting to open their Christmas presents tomorrow, during the Fiesta de Los Reyes Magos.
The Met Office is predicting snow all over the UK (up to 15 cm in places like Manchester and Ceredigion, Wales).
Meanwhile....
...supermarkets across the UK are selling Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. You may be blissfully unawares, but it's only 88 days to Easter - that's a fact. If you don't start buying your chocolate eggs now, you may soon run out of time and have to endure (shock, horror) a chocolate-less Easter.
In case you think this is too weird to be true, I have photographic proof for you. Yes, I bought Easter chocolate on 5th January. Unbelievable but true.
In my defence, it was for a noble cause (i.e. blogging) - and I managed to resist the temptation of the buy-one-get-one-free packs of freshly baked hot cross buns.
Those Cadbury's Dairy Milk Caramel Bunnies are actually rather nice. Just saying.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Easter hot air lanterns
A weird and wonderful Easter tradition that is only found in one area of Greece (my dad's hometown, as it happens) is the sending up of hot air lanterns. This happens on Saturday night during the church service and all through Easter Sunday and Easter Monday in the town of Leonidio. The lanterns are made of paper tissue in different colours, they have a circular bottom and conical top, and are man-sized. The bottom is kept together by copper wires in the shape of a cross. A rag is soaked in gas and fixed in the centre of the cross, then it is lit and the lantern held in place while it fills with hot air. Once it's ready, it starts flying up and up and up!
It's a spectacular sight against the night sky, especially as there are hundreds of lanterns leaving each of the town's five churches at precisely the same moment, just as the priest in each church announces that "Christ has risen". You can see what it looks and sounds like in the next video, but be warned - there are fireworks, church bells and bangers going off, so it's very loud. You may want to turn down the sound on your PC before you click play.
There are more lanterns being sent up throughout Easter Sunday. You always see people looking up when a lantern goes past - a good idea if you are to avoid the risk of catching fire, as sometimes they fall back down on top of houses or in woodland. Children in particular are fascinated by lanterns and as soon as they're old enough to ride a bike they are on lantern alert. The moment there's a lantern coming down, there are groups of kids rushing to the spot where it falls. The first one to get there can claim the lantern as his/her own, and can take it home to patch it up and send it back up. Sometimes lanterns get patched up again and again.
This is a lantern that my cousin rescued, being sent up for the third or fouth time, judging by the number of patch jobs.
While looking for videos showing the hot air lanterns, I found this next one. It's professionally made and a little longer (just under 10 mins), but if you can spare the time, it shows the whole of the Easter celebrations, starting with the decoration of the Epitaphios on Good Friday and finishing with the hot air lanterns on Sunday evening. My favourite bit is around the 8:25 mark, where you see three young children (too young to chase after the lanterns themselves) discussing how many of them burnt the night before. It's exactly what we were like as kids, and just comes to show that things don't change *that* much from generation to generation!
There are plenty more photos of the hot air lanterns on Flickr. Have a look here for some spectacular ones (not taken by me).
This is officially my last Easter post for this year. Hope you've enjoyed it :-)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Happy Easter part 2
On Easter Saturday, the sombre mood lifted and everyone appeared a lot more cheerful in anticipation of Easter. In the morning we went into town for some last minute shopping. These are some of the unusual window displays we spotted: Easter candles, lanterns and of course lamb.
Candles have an important role in the Saturday night church service, as they are lit just after midnight once the priest has announced that "Christ has risen". The light of the candles is considered blessed and people carry it home, sometimes using paper lanterns.
Before we left for church just after 11 PM, we had already prepared the table and put some meat in the oven. The Holy Week is a period of fasting, which is broken only after the return from the Saturday midnight service.
We had red dyed eggs and decorated ones too.
Here are a couple of photos from the midnight service.
The next day we had more eggs, traditional Easter bread (tsoureki) and Easter biscuits (koulouria) for breakfast. Yummie.
Then we went into town to partake in the dancing and lamb eating.
It was a gloriously sunny day and very hot too. Hotter, in fact, than the average English summer day.
Happy Easter! Xristos Anesti!
Candles have an important role in the Saturday night church service, as they are lit just after midnight once the priest has announced that "Christ has risen". The light of the candles is considered blessed and people carry it home, sometimes using paper lanterns.
Before we left for church just after 11 PM, we had already prepared the table and put some meat in the oven. The Holy Week is a period of fasting, which is broken only after the return from the Saturday midnight service.
We had red dyed eggs and decorated ones too.
Here are a couple of photos from the midnight service.
The next day we had more eggs, traditional Easter bread (tsoureki) and Easter biscuits (koulouria) for breakfast. Yummie.
Then we went into town to partake in the dancing and lamb eating.
It was a gloriously sunny day and very hot too. Hotter, in fact, than the average English summer day.
Happy Easter! Xristos Anesti!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Good Friday
Orthodox Easter is often celebrated at a different time to Western Easter. This is because the Orthodox church retained the Julian calendar after the Gregorian calendar was introduced in Europe in 1582. This year, Easter in Greece, Cyprus, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania etc. falls on 19th April. Accordingly, yesterday was Good Friday.
Good Friday is a day of mourning. In the morning, people attend church to help decorate a symbolic coffin with flowers, which is called the Epitaphios. This is carried around each town in a procession lamenting the death of Christ. People follow this procession singing hymns and holding lit candles.
Once the procession is over, the Epitaphios is placed inside the church.
People queue to pray and pay their respects one last time.
You may notice the sides of this Epitaphios bear no flowers. This is because people have pulled the flowers off and taken them home as they're considered to be blessed.
After the service and procession, we went for a walk around town, and took some photos of the decorations and shop windows. There were Easter eggs and ladybirds everywhere.
These are decorated Easter candles, which children (and sometimes adults) take to church on Saturday night for the midnight Easter service.
Godparents buy Easter candles for their godchildren, along with chocolate eggs, special Easter bread and shoes or clothes.
The is one of the funniest pictures I took. It's the window of a children's clothes shop, suitably decorated with a farm theme. One of the chickens must have tried to escape, but then discovered it couldn't fly...
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