# Easter traditions....



## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Growing up as a Greek kid I can tell you that Easter has a very special meaning for all Greeks. For us it is one of the biggest celebrations of the year as we celebrate the risen Christ. Every year at easter time everyone meets at the church very late on Saturday night, around 11:00 - 11:30 p.m. The church is completely dark and there is the sound of the chanters, and the priest gives a small sermon. Right at 12:00 a.m. the priest comes out with a candle and passes the light to all the children. They in turn pass the light to everyone else throughout the whole church. It is very beautiful as the whole church is lit with candle light. Everyone sings together "Kree Sto Sa Neste" (Phonetic) which means "Christ has risen". After the service all the families go to a particular relatives house to eat the famous "Magaritsa" which translates as "gut soup". It is a traditional Easter soup whichi is made from the guts of a lamb (lungs, spleen, kidney, liver, and intestines). Along with that we also break red eggs which are died red to symbolize two things. One the egg is the symbol of life, and the red is the symbol of Christ's blood shed on the cross.

After that we all go to sleep...


Would love to hear some other easter traditions and the foods that are associtated with them.


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## seattledeb (Nov 5, 2000)

Your Easter service sounds beautiful. Due to fire hazards (or so they tell us) we can't do anything like that here with candles. Ours is a pretty straightforward Catholic Mass. I've always wanted to go to an early morning non-denominational service somewhere outdoors and serene.

My dad is Portuguese and every Easter makes Portuguese Sweet Bread, my grandmother used to make a similar bread and put a colored easter egg on top.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

SeattleDeb it is even more beautiful in Greece. I have never seen it, but my aunt tells me that in athens all of the people hike up the mountain (I think to the Acropolis, not sure) and she said it looks like a river of fire going up the mountain from all the candelight.


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## seattledeb (Nov 5, 2000)

A beautiful visual Nicko.

Deb


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## bdwillms (Feb 26, 2001)

We usually have a Good Friday service,sometimes a Sunrise service Sunday Morning and our usual Sunday Morning service  .
As Mennonites we make a sweet bread called Paska and decorate it with icing and sprinkled candies.
The kids will decorate Easter eggs later as well as receive their Easter candy sunday morning.  
I like your candle light service Nicko,a great tradition


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## bdwillms (Feb 26, 2001)

We made the paska two days ago and my wife iced it this morning.By three pm it was all gone   .
So for sunday we will have to make another one  to take to my parents place   .
Christ is risen from the dead   .


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