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EASTER TRADITIONS IN GREECE

EASTER TRADITIONS IN GREECE. 3 rd PRIMARY SCHOOL PALAIO FALIRO. Greek orthodox Easter Sunday is April 27 th for 2008. Easter is very nice in Greece because it is the time that life begins again on Easter Sunday after winter and 40 days of fasting. Great Week:

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EASTER TRADITIONS IN GREECE

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  1. EASTER TRADITIONS IN GREECE 3rd PRIMARY SCHOOL PALAIO FALIRO

  2. Greek orthodox Easter Sunday is April 27th for 2008 • Easter is very nice in Greece because it is the time that life begins again on Easter Sunday after winter and 40 days of fasting. • Great Week: The week begins on Palm Sunday and there are church services every day commemorating the last week in the life of Jesus Christ. There are evening services and most of the people attend them.

  3. On Thursday the service commemorates the Last Supper and the Betrayal of Christ. This is the day the hard-boiled eggs are dyed red, signifying the blood of Christ, and the Easter bread, called tsoureki, is baked. The evening service is very long and features 12 gospels readings. A cross and a figure of Christ is brought into the church and set up into the church, while the church bell rings.

  4. On Friday the nails holding the figure of Christ are knocked off and the figure is taken down, wrapped in a white cloth. • Then Christ’s body is put in a large piece of cloth, called Epitaphios, which has been decorated with flowers by the girls through the night. It is sprinkled with rose water and flower petals are thrown upon it. The bells of the church ring and women in the congregation weep in mourning. A funeral service is held and Epitaphios is carried through the streets.

  5. In cities with more than one church the parades may join together in certain points. In some places an effigy of Judas is burned while in others Barabbas is.

  6. The Resurrection or Anastasis At 11pm on Saturday night everybody goes to church. The lights are turned off at midnight and the priest announces that Christ has arisen from the dead as candles are lit from his and then from each other. The church bell rings in celebration, fireworks go off and ships sound their sirens. People greet each other with the words ‘Christos Anesti’ (Christ has arisen).

  7. Then everyone heads for home with their lighted candles and they trace the cross 3 times above the door. People eat ‘Magiritsa’ a thick green soup made from the intestines of the lamb that will be roasted the next day.

  8. Easter Sunday • Easter day is most people's favorite day of the year. A lamb is roasted and friends and families get together to eat, drink, talk and dance. There is celebration with rows of lambs roasting in the villages squares.  In southern Messenia people go to the main squares to watch the saetapolemos, which are rockets without sticks that the men hold while the force of the explosions makes them jump as if they are dancing. This practice supposedly goes back to the War of Independence when people of the area fashioned this home-made bombs to scare the horses of the Turks to force their riders to dismount and lose their advantage.

  9. During the afternoon the red eggs are brought out and each person takes one and hits their end against someone else's until the last person who has an un-cracked egg is considered the lucky person for the year

  10. Ka-LO PAska= • Happy Easter

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