In Greece Easter (Pascha) is the year's most important religious and family festival, far more than Christmas. City dwellers go back to their home villages, churches fill even with non-churchgoers, and the traditions are followed across the country.
When it falls
The Orthodox Church calculates Easter by the Julian calendar, so it usually falls one or more weeks after Western Easter; some years they coincide.
| Year | Orthodox Easter | Western Easter |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 2 May | 28 March |
| 2028 | 16 April | 16 April |
| 2029 | 8 April | 1 April |
| 2030 | 28 April | 21 April |
Lent
Lent begins on Kathara Deftera, "Clean Monday", a public holiday when families picnic outdoors and children fly kites. People eat meat-free food such as the flatbread lagana, olives, shellfish and taramosalata. For forty days the devout eat no meat, dairy or eggs and, on some days, no oil or wine.
Holy Week
| Day | What happens |
|---|---|
| Palm Sunday | Crosses woven from palm leaves are handed out |
| Holy Thursday | Eggs are dyed red, symbol of Christ's blood; koulourakia biscuits and tsoureki bread are baked |
| Good Friday | A day of mourning: church bells toll, people fast; in the evening the Epitaphios, Christ's bier decorated with flowers by the women, is carried in procession through the streets |
| Holy Saturday | At midnight, the Resurrection service |
| Easter Sunday | The great feast with lamb on the spit |
| Easter Monday | Public holiday |
The night of the Resurrection
On Holy Saturday the holy light (Agio Fos), lit in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, is flown to Athens and distributed to churches across the country. Shortly before midnight the church lights go out. At midnight the priest emerges with a lit candle and proclaims Christos anesti!, "Christ is risen!". The faithful answer Alithos anesti!, "He is truly risen!", and pass the flame from candle to candle. Bells ring, fireworks and firecrackers go off, people kiss and exchange wishes. Many carry the lit candle home and trace a smoke cross above the door for protection.
The Easter table
Back home after the service, the fast is broken with magiritsa, a soup of lamb offal, rice and dill with egg-lemon sauce. Then comes tsougrisma: everyone takes a red egg and taps it against others' eggs, saying "Christos anesti"; whoever's egg stays unbroken will have luck all year. On Sunday, from morning, lamb on the spit (arni sti souvla) and kokoretsi, spit-roasted offal, turn in gardens and squares, with wine, music and dancing until evening.
Local traditions
- Corfu: on Holy Saturday at 11 in the morning, residents throw large clay pots full of water (botides) from their windows, a rite of Venetian origin; brass bands parade throughout Holy Week.
- Chios: at Vrontados two rival parishes fire thousands of homemade rockets at each other during the Resurrection service, the "rocket war" (rouketopolemos).
- Patmos: on Holy Thursday the washing of the feet is re-enacted in the monastery square.
- Crete and many villages: an effigy of Judas is burned.
See also the Orthodox Church, Christmas and festivals and traditions.