In the spirit of continuing with the Greek holidays, Easter certainly shouldn't be left out (no matter how lazy I feel about blogging at the moment).Easter is easily the biggest family holiday, surpassing even Christmas, here in Greece. It's a time when the cities empty out, their inhabitants making an exodus to the country, either to the village of their family or that of a friends (which we did last year).
People really start gearing up for Easter during Holy Week, beginning the previous Sunday. The days of that week are even referenced (even when announcing movies that will be on TV during the week), as Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, etc. There are special hours for shops to be open which are noted in the papers ahead of time. The majority of people (those not working in the shops/service industry) have Holy Friday through the following Monday off of work. Of course, schools are closed down for the week prior and after Easter, giving me the perfect time to entertain my visiting friends!
The spurt of religious activities begin on Friday. We sat at the square outside the local church that Friday, for a coffee, and were serenaded by the priests singing/chanting for the morning services. In the afternoon/evening, the Epitaph begins (you can see a video of it here). It is a procession representing the dead Jesus. The video does a better job of describing it, as I have yet to see it.
On Saturday is the resurrection mass, which ends at Midnight. Many people will go to the church 15-30 minutes before midnight, to join others to light a candle at midnight (often in the courtyard outside the church as it does fill up!). At Midnight, the priests exits the church and announces that Christ has risen (Χριστός Ανέστει - Christos Anesti). Children and adults will light off fireworks, so you have to remain alert if you are in the crowd! Then, everyone returns home to eat a large meal, which will often start off with Μαγεριτσα / Mageritsa (lamb soup). Part of the reason for eating this soup is that the fasting is now broken and it helps ease your system back into eating meat after 40 days without it. And trust me, lots of meat will be eaten soon.
After the midnight meal and some sleeping, you are back up to eat more. Men of the household will probably have been up since 6am, starting the lamb (head and all!) and kokoretsi to roasting over the coals. Of course, there will be many other dishes served with the grilled meat and one's stomach can be pushed to the limit! You'll note the picture at the top, another Easter tradition. Similar as in the States (and elsewhere I'm sure), they dye eggs here also, but mostly a deep red. The eggs are then set to a cracking challenge, as two people take on each others eggs by hitting the ends of the other's to see who's doesn't crack. No big winnings result from this, not even the proverbial wish granted as when one gets the largest break from the turkey wishbone. But it is fun nonetheless. Funny how competitive people can get with simple eggs...
This year, since we stayed in the city as I had friends here, we went to a taverna. It is our favorite taverna for good meat and they did not disappoint (Μαγγείνας στο Μαρούσσι for you locals). It's not quite the same as being out in a village, watching the lamb turn all morning and enjoying the weather. However, from a culinary standpoint, and noting we didn't have to help prepare any of it, we were certainly pleased!
I did find one definite benefit to staying in town during this time, no one else was here! The roads were virtually empty, as was the Metro, so made our touristy outings much easier. My friends didn't quite get the experience of a "full" Athens, but that's probably ok. They might then wonder what the heck I am doing here.
