18/04/2025
🎨 Art Tuesdays | Theodoros Rallis (1852-1909): "Megali Paraskevi",oil on canvas.
As we currently observe the Holly Week of the Greek Orthodox Easter - considered the most sacred week for the Greek Orthodox Church - let's take a look at the Eastern traditions in Greece.
🔸Holy Thursday, commemorates the Last Supper, when Jesus gave the sacrament of Communion to His Disciples. According to the tradition, on this day, people bake “koulourakia,” “lamprokouloura” and “tsourekia” (Easter cookies and bread), and dye hard-boiled eggs. The eggs are often dyed red, symbolizing the blood of Christ.
🔸 On Holy Friday, in all the churches around Greece, the Epitaphios (a wooden canopied bier representing the tomb of Christ) is covered with flowers of various colors. At the end of the evening service a procession takes place headed by Epitaphios, the priests and the faithful. People follow along the streets of cities, towns and villages listening to psalms being chanted.
🔸 The Resurrection of Christ is celebrated at Midnight of Holy Saturday with drum beats and fireworks lighting the skies, as the church bells peal out and the hymn ‘Christos Anesti’ (Christ is Risen) is chanted by everybody.
🔸 Easter for Greece is also the most joyous celebration of spring, with numerous festivities, deeply rooted traditions and delicious culinary offerings, celebrated throughout the Greek countryside and islands. All over Greece, Easter customs become a herald of the spirit’s and nature’s rebirth. Even in today’s modern society, centuries-old traditions are still being kept alive and respected by younger generations.
🔸 Easter holds a special place in the heart of Greek people, and has been the theme of many poems by significant Greek poets, such as Dionysios Solomos, Odysseas Elytis, Nikos Kazantzakis, Kostis Palamas, Tasos Leivaditis and more.
Read more about Greece's Easter traditions here https://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/easter-traditions-greece/
