Celebrating Orthodox Easter at Giannitsa.

Orthodox Easter begins with the holy flame – apparently miraculously self-igniting within the tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - being transported to airports in Greece. From there the faithful ensure that each church has fire to light the candles to symbolize the resurrection of Christ.         Thinks: how was it transported throughout the country  in pre-flight times?                                                                            

                  

In our area, above the village of Peristera, around midnight on Good Friday, a bright bonfire can be seen: the tradition of burning Judas Iscariot. Though not an official part of church liturgy, some of the Catholic and Orthodox faiths carry this out as a re-enactment of the Passion – the final phase of the life of Jesus, from his arrival at Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the crucifixion at Gethsemane.

                    

       Our Easter Sunday begins with sampling the delicious tsoureki or Easter bread made by Zissis’ sister and ace-baker, Voula. We also collect home-made goodies – pasta flora, pavlova and oatcakes to take to our kind Easter hosts, Dimos and Eleni.

        

 

We reach the mountain area outside Giannitsa and the weather could not be better.

Lots of preparation has been made: second-cousin, Kallia, shows her artistic coloured eggs.

                      

Her husband, Omar, despite celebrating his birthday, is hard at work, char-grilling chicken, sausage, beef fillet and bifteki. Zissis does his bit putting the lamb into the clay oven.

                         

But mainly he sits with cousin, Dimos and his son, Christos, enjoying home-made pies. Upstairs Kallia and mum, Eleni, set the table with a great selection of salads and more eggs!

                   

                        

           

 

 

There’s a ‘surprise’ party for Omar, and we get a bit silly with funny hats and party horns!We clearly have a very talented pavlova designer in our midst!

         

                                                 

We all sprawl around, more than sated, but bravely attempting to make inroads into at least some of the sweets: custard pie, raspberry tart, cherry cheese-cake and cream-clotted rum babas! We can also say we made a dent in Dimos’ cellar of excellent home-made wines.

After this glorious day of excellent food, wine and company, we wrench ourselves away, leaving their two adorable doggies to guard their beautiful terrain. 

As they say in Greek: Kai tou chronou!  – Here’s to the  same next year!