Known for practicing religious fervor through Orthodox Christianity, Greece observes Easter as its main religious festivity, according to the ancient Greek religious calendar. There, Easter Sunday is known as ‘Megali Evdomada’ (meaning the Big Week). The festivity centers on the church and ‘Megali Paraskevi’, also known as Good Friday. In some cities of Greece, Easter begins with Apokreas, a carnival taken out by the Catholics. Some of the most conventional rituals practiced by Greeks, on Easter, include cleaning the exterior of the house, dying the eggs in red, buying news shoes and clothes, etc. Personalized candles are also presented to the kids, as gifts, on Easter.
In Greece, Easter celebrations start on Good Friday itself, with the tomb of Christ being moved out. It is adorned with thousands of flowers and taken through the streets, followed by a slow procession. Another tradition followed by the Greeks involves lighting a candle at the cemetery, to honor the dead. On Holy Saturday, the Orthodox Patriarch breaks the seal of the door of Christ's tomb, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem), and emerges with the Holy Fire. This flame, escorted by the high ranking priests and government employees, is carried to the Athens airport. It is, there, that the flame is met by the honor guard to the small church of Agia Anargyroi, in the Plaka. The flame is, then, distributed to churches all over Attika and the rest of Greece.
Easter celebrations, however, attain their height on the midnight of Holy Saturday, when the priests turns off all the lights of their church, symbolizing the darkness and silent of the tomb. After sometime, they light a candle from the Eternal Flame and sing ‘Christos Anesti’. Herewith, they present the candle to the people present in the church, who in turn pass it to everyone present there. It is during this time only that the bells start ringing and fill the ambience with their mesmerizing sound. The whole country of Greece dwells in the high spirits of festivity that Easter brings along with it. While cooking tempting food and delicacies tops the list in Easter celebrations, flying kites and enjoying a vacation in the picturesque Acropolis hill in Athens are not too far behind.
