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Greece
Republic of Macedonia
Holy Week in Macedonia, c. 1900
Holy Thursday. In some
districts on this day, as well as on Lady Day, March 25th, the
people are in the habit of hanging from the balconies and the windows of
their houses red kerchiefs or sashes. On this day also the Paschal eggs
are dyed. The peasant mother takes the first colored egg and with it crosses
her child's face and neck saying: "Mayest thou grow red as is this egg
and strong as a stone." This egg is then placed near the icon of the Panaghia
and is left there until the following year, when a new one takes its place.
The red color of the Easter eggs and of the kerchiefs mentioned above is
explained by folklorists as referring to the brightness of spring. On this
day they also make a kind of cakes, called from their shape "turtle-doves,"
with a clove or a grain of pepper doing duty as an eye.
Good Friday. On this
day the peasants eschew all kinds of food prepared with vinegar, because,
they say, it was on this day that the Jews moistened our Lord's lips with
vinegar.
Holy Saturday. They
are careful not to wash their heads least their hair should turn gray.
Easter Sunday ("Bright").
This last name corresponds to the Russian Siyetlaya and may be compared
with our own Easter both of which appellations suggest brightness. The
Resurrection is celebrated twice. First at a midnight mass on the eve and
again about mid-day on Easter Day. The first is also called the "Good Word."
The gospel for the day is read out in the churchyard beneath the star-bespangled
sky and is immediately followed by the hymn beginning with the words "Christ
is risen," in which the whole congregation joins. The announcement of the
"good word" is greeted with loud peals of firearms and with the sound of
bells or the wood gongs still in use in some parts of the country. In the
midst of this uproar the priest holds up a lighted candle and calls on
the congregation to "Come and receive light." The faithful obey the
summons with great Alacrity. There is an onrush at the priest, and those
who get first kindle their candles at the very fountain-head of light;
the less fortunate, or less muscular, ones have to be content with
illumination at second hand. But the result from a purely aesthetic point
of view is the same. The dark night is suddenly lighted up with hundreds
of small flickering flames, trembling in the hands of people anxious to
escape from the fire-arms, squibs, and crackers, which boom and hiss in
dangerous proximity all round them.
On the tapers secured at the cost of so much exertion,
not unattended by some risk to life and limb, is set a proportionally high
value. The miraculous powers attributed to these Easter tapers may be compared
to those which were ascribed to the Candlemas candles in Catholic
times in England. The women on their return from church, use these tapers
for the purpose burning the bugs, in the pious hope that they will thus
get rid of them forever-a custom which agrees well with the extermination
of fleas: the avowed object of the Macedonian bonfires
The congregation having lighted their tapers turn towards
the church and find the doors closed. They knock upon them chanting in
chorus: "Lift the gates, 0 ye rulers of ours, and ye eternal gates be lifted;
for there will enter Christ, the King of glory!" Those without reply: "He
is a Lord strong and powerful He is a Lord mighty in war!" Thereupon the
doors are thrown open, and the congregation troop into the building, where
service is resumed.
The words "Christ is risen" are the signal for breaking
the long fast of Lent, and many take to church a red egg and a bun which
as soon as the words are uttered, they devour with pardonable eagerness.
After service the peasant mothers secretly place under their children's
pillows red eggs, and when the little ones wake in the morning, they are
told that this is a present brought in the dead of night by Paschalia,
a female personification of Easter
To the second service, which takes place in the day-time,
the people go with lighted tapers, and when it is
over, the congregation embrace, forgiving and forgetting mutual offenses,
and salute each other with the formula: "Christ is risen," to which the
answer is "He is risen indeed!", and this continues to be
the
regular formula of greeting until Ascension day. The
Easter feast lasts three days, during which visits are exchanged, the visitors
being presented with a red egg. The piece de resistance of
the Easter banquet is a lamb roasted whole. Indeed
so indispensable is this item, that it has given rise to a proverb, "Easter
without a lamb is a thing that cannot be," applied to those whose ambition
their means.
Tuesday sports
On Easter Tuesday the people
resort to the open country, where the girls dance and the youths amuse
themselves by shooting at the mark, wrestling, jumping, running, the throwing
of heavy stones and similar sports, all possible successors to the old
games.
A favorite song at Easter is one beginning as
follows:
"Holy Saturday is come and Holy Thursday too,
The Bright Sunday is also come with the Good Word.
A mother dresses her son and his Sister girds him,
She girds him with a gold girdle, a girdle of pure gold.
They set out to participate in the sacrament, etc."
Source: Macedonian Folklore by G. F. Abbott. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1903, pp.36 -38.
First Sunday after Easter (Low Sunday) St. Thomas's
Day
This is a day for young people's outings in Macedonia.
This Sunday is also celebrated with great eclat. After
morning service the villagers go out to an open space where the sports
are to be held. At Nigrita the favorite spot is on the sloping banks of
a watercourse. To that place may early in the forenoon be seen repairing
a miscellaneous crowd of country folk in festive mood and attire. A group
of some twenty or thirty maids, with snow- white kerchiefs over their heads,
leads the procession; singing various songs, among which the following
is perhaps the most popular:
Maroudia, a maid of Achinos, set out on a Monday
To go for silver-earth, flooring-earth.
She took not a connnio~spade, but took a silver
spade.
She strikes once, she strikes twice, she strikes
three and four times,
And there fell the silver-earth and covered up
Maroudia.
She sent forth a shrill cry: 'My voice, rend
the mountains
And carry to my mother a message to sweep the
courts clean,
To spread the carpet...'
The song is not of a very high order as poetry, yet it is
interesting as referring to an everyday occupation of the women of the
district.
Having reached the rendezvous, the damsels disperse and
pick from the stones in the torrent-bed a kind of moss.. and with this
they dye their finger-tips and palms. In this excursion are usually escorted
by a cavalcade of young men, and while are busy embellishing their hands,
their cavaliers run races. In the meantime the sports are in full
swing. The prizes given to the winners vary according to the different
events. Thus for instance, the winner at running gets a lamb or a kid.
He slings it across his shoulders and, preceded by an ear-rending band
of drums and pipes, leads the crowd away; the damsels follow dancing and
singing. This event comes off in the morning. After lunch take place
wrestling matches, the combatants being stripped to the waist. The prize
for this event is likewise a lamb or kid and the victor is greeted with
loud rolling of drums; screaming of pipes, firing of pistols and flint-locks
and promiscuous shouting and cheering from the crowd. The somewhat discordant
noises gradually subside into song, dancing ensues.
Source: Macedonian Folklore by G. F. Abbott. Camb
Cambridge University Press, 1903, p.39.
Tossing dynamite from the mountains at Easter in Kalymnos
... Throwing dynamite off the mountain tops announces
and honors the Kalymnian who perishes tragically at sea; it is also thought
the only serenity tribute to the old sponge-diver who disembarks the Athens
steamer in a coffin. It is also thrown on a dare. Very much in the tradition
of noise-makers everywhere else in Greece, the thunder and crack of dynamite
marks the beginning of Easter. On Easter day several years ago, an accidental
explosion, with the power to shatter windows of the harbor shops, killed
four young men, but though local business men and politicians circulated
pleas to stop the madness, the mourners were among the most adamant that
the Easter "tradition" must continue. It still goes on.
Source: Insight Guides: Greece. Edited by Karen
Van Dyck. Hong Kong: APA Productions, 1988, p.77.
Easter Sunday in Castellorizo, Greece, c. 1985
On Easter Sunday, ... services are held at the monastery,
high above the town. Children carry fat candles, at the base of which they
have fashioned paper ornamental cutouts to catch the drippings. The men
Sit on one side, the women on the other. Chants are given while the congregation
chats with one another and the children run in endless circles. After the
ceremony, everyone moves to the mosaiced courtyard where trays of Easter
liquors are distributed while you watch the folk dancing.
Source: The Eye and the Eyebrow: A History of Kas,
Turkey and Castellorizo, Greece by Gail Chase. Seattle: Writer's Pub
lishing House,
1986, p.40.
Cyprus
Greek Cypriots' ceremonies for Holy Week
For Greek Cypriots,
Easter is celebrated not only through this forty day fast (Sarakostis),
but features many lengthy, elaborate Services and ceremonies which
climax during Holy Week, which brings most Cypriots to
church each evening. The betrayal of Jesus is observed on Holy Thursday
through a lengthy three-hour service which requires Cypriots to stand and
listen to the solemn reading of twelve gospels; with the reading of each
gospel by the priest, a candle is lit. School children also participate
in the service through their adorning of the epitaphion- a large,
ornately carved, free-standing structure which symbolizes Christ's tomb
with flowers they have gathered from the village. The Crucifixion is then
observed on Good Friday, when the epitaphion is carried by laymen of the
church in a funeral- style procession, and it is on this day that the women
of the village prepare rich pastries called flaouna, which are made with
a special cheese, and which prompt ceaseless discussion among housewives
in defense of their special recipe. The Resurrection, the climax of Holy
Week, is celebrated on Holy Saturday in a candle-lit service which closes
with the repeated singing of Christos Anesti (Christ is Risen),
a phrase which is repeated by devout Cypriots in passing 40 days thereafter.
Sometime after midnight following the Holy Saturday service, families and
relatives return to their homes to feast on "breakfast" which consists
of a lemon-based chicken and rice soup (avogolemono), along
with boiled eggs dyed red to commemorate the gloriously shed blood of Christ.
As among the Greek-Americans in the United States, the eggs are used in
a table side game in which one person holds an egg steady between forefinger
and thumb while his "competitor" hits the stationary egg with his own egg;
the champion possesses the egg which remains free of cracks.
During the Easter day, the midday meal-which
usually consists of a whole lamb, a kid goat, or other skewered meat-is
grilled outside and shared by relatives who visit for the day. The Easter
Sunday meal is enjoyed among family and acquaintances, and children often
receive a chocolate egg and, more recently, gifts. The festivities and
visits of Easter Sunday extend into the week, as many Cypriots are relieved
of their work responsibilities on the Monday and Tuesday that follows Easter.
Source: "Greek Cypriots," Worldmark Encyclopedia of
Cultures and Daily Life. Vol.3, Asia and Oceania. Detroit: Gale
Research, 1998, p.227.
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