Celebrate Easter in Neapoli

Easter Week begins on Palm Sunday and there are Church Services every day commemorating the last week of Jesus Christ’s life. On Thursday morning, the service commemorates the Last Supper and the Betrayal of Christ. This is the day that hard-boiled eggs are dyed red, signifying the blood of Christ and the Easter bread, tsoureki, is baked. The evening service is a long one and includes twelve gospel readings. A figure of Christ on the cross is brought into the church whilst the bells ring. In some places a vigil is kept in the church all night. On Friday the nails holding the figure of Christ are removed and the figure is taken down from the cross and wrapped in a white cloth. A large piece of cloth, embroidered with the image of Christ, called the epitaphios, which has been decorated with flowers, is brought into the church where it is sprinkled with rose- water and more flower petals are thrown upon it. The bells of the church begin to toll and all the flags in Greece are lowered to half-mast. In the evening a funeral service is held and at about 9 p.m. the epitaphios is taken from the church and, with the mournful sound of the bells, it is carried through the streets in a solemn procession. On Saturday the Orthodox Patriarch breaks the seal of the door of the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and brings out the Holy Fire. This is then taken by high-ranking priests and government officials on an Olympic Airlines flight to Athens airport. It is then taken to the square of the Acropolis called the Plaka and from the church there, Agia Anargyroi, the light is distributed to churches all over Attika and throughout the whole of Greece. At 11p.m. on Saturday night pretty much the entire country is in church. The lights are turned off at midnight and the priest announces that Christ has arisen from the dead. Everyone has a candle and the priest lights one and the light is then transferred throughout the congregation. At the stroke of midnight the priest sings the paschal hymn: "Christ has risen from the dead and in so doing has trampled on death and to those in the tombs he has given life.” There is a cacophony of sound and light as church bells ring out, fireworks go off and ships sound their sirens. People greet each other with the words Christos Anesti(Christ has arisen), to which comes the reply Alithos Anesti (Truly He has arisen). Then everyone goes home with their lighted candles where they trace the cross three times above the door to bless the house, the trees and the animals. Now is the time to eat the traditional bowl of margeritsa, a thick green soup made from the intestines of the lamb that will be roasted the next day. This breaks the 40 day fast. Over the next 24 hours there will be the sound of gunshots, dynamite and fireworks. Easter day is a very special day; a lamb is roasted over the charcoal and families and friends get together to eat, drink and make merry. In Crete this is called "glenti". During the afternoon the red eggs are brought out and each person takes one and hits the end of his or her egg against someone else's until the last person who has an unbroken egg is considered the lucky person for the year. Kalo Paska – Happy Easter

Photo courtesy of MiKe Dialynas

Easter Week begins on Palm Sunday and there are Church Services every day commemorating the last week of Jesus Christ’s life. On Thursday morning, the service commemorates the Last Supper and the Betrayal of Christ. This is the day that hard-boiled eggs are dyed red, signifying the blood of Christ and the Easter bread, tsoureki, is baked. The evening service is a long one and includes twelve gospel readings. A figure of Christ on the cross is brought into the church whilst the bells ring. In some places a vigil is kept in the church all night. On Friday the nails holding the figure of Christ are removed and the figure is taken down from the cross and wrapped in a white cloth. A large piece of cloth, embroidered with the image of Christ, called the epitaphios, which has been decorated with flowers, is brought into the church where it is sprinkled with rose- water and more flower petals are thrown upon it. The bells of the church begin to toll and all the flags in Greece are lowered to half-mast. In the evening a funeral service is held and at about 9 p.m. the epitaphios is taken from the church and, with the mournful sound of the bells, it is carried through the streets in a solemn procession. On Saturday the Orthodox Patriarch breaks the seal of the door of the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and brings out the Holy Fire. This is then taken by high-ranking priests and government officials on an Olympic Airlines flight to Athens airport. It is then taken to the square of the Acropolis called the Plaka and from the church there, Agia Anargyroi, the light is distributed to churches all over Attika and throughout the whole of Greece. At 11p.m. on Saturday night pretty much the entire country is in church. The lights are turned off at midnight and the priest announces that Christ has arisen from the dead. Everyone has a candle and the priest lights one and the light is then transferred throughout the congregation. At the stroke of midnight the priest sings the paschal hymn: "Christ has risen from the dead and in so doing has trampled on death and to those in the tombs he has given life.” There is a cacophony of sound and light as church bells ring out, fireworks go off and ships sound their sirens. People greet each other with the words Christos Anesti (Christ has arisen), to which comes the reply Alithos Anesti(Truly He has arisen). Then everyone goes home with their lighted candles where they trace the cross three times above the door to bless the house, the trees and the animals. Now is the time to eat the traditional bowl of margeritsa, a thick green soup made from the intestines of the lamb that will be roasted the next day. This breaks the 40 day fast. Over the next 24 hours there will be the sound of gunshots, dynamite and fireworks. Easter day is a very special day; a lamb is roasted over the charcoal and families and friends get together to eat, drink and make merry. In Crete this is called "glenti". During the afternoon the red eggs are brought out and each person takes one and hits the end of his or her egg against someone else's until the last person who has an unbroken egg is considered the lucky person for the year. Kalo Paska – Happy Easter