ANZAC Day

 ANZAC

Australia and NZ Army Corps

25th April 

National Memorial Day in Australia and NZ

Recognising all who have served

In war and peacekeeping duties

Past and present

Red poppies now blooming in our fields

The flower of remembrance

'In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row by row...' 

John McCrae  1915

Today we remember the cost of conflict 

Saint George

 23rd April

In Greece he is Agios Giorgios

Our main church is dedicated to St George so there will be a church  service on the eve with a parade of his icon through the neighbourhood and on the morning of the fiesta there will be a celebratory service.  George and Georgia are very popular names so the service will be well attended and afterwards there will be coffee and offerings of sweets and cakes

We have 3 family members celebrating 

Grandson George 

Great niece Georgia

Great nephew Djordje

Wishing you all Many more Happy Name Days and joyful celebrations

St George he was for England

And before he killed the dragon

He drank a pint of English ale out

Of an English flagon

 - GK Chesterton

That rather tickled my fancy. 

 I hope in England you celebrate as I image you should, flying the red and white St George's cross, with Morris dancing, a few pints of that English ale, roast beef, fish and chips and many cups of tea with cucumber sandwiches

Never Set Eyes on a........

Can you imagine a male living to the age of 82 and never setting eyes on a female, not even his mother?

Greek Orthodox monk, Mihail Tolotos lived in a monastery on the Mount Athos peninsular.  The peninsular in Northern Greece has 20 monasteries and around 2,000 monks.  In 1060 AD  the monasteries passed a law banning women and female animals.  This rule helps enforce their celibacy (as far as women are concerned).

Mihail was handed over to the monks after his mother died during childbirth.  Born in 1856 he grew up in the monastery, never left, and died in 1938 at the age of 82.  He knew about women only from books and the icons of the Virgin Mary on the walls of the churches. 

He lived his entire life in the seclusion of the monastery and was given a special funeral by the monks who believed him to be the only man who lived without seeing someone of the opposite sex.  

A few women have managed to smuggle themselves in.  In 1953 a greek woman dressed as a man entered and stayed 3 days.  After that the Greek Parliament also passed a law prohibiting women from entering The Holy Mountain, as it is known in Greece.  They are not allowed within 500 metres of the coast. 

The ban also applies to female animals, except cats which keep the rat population down.  So the story goes.

In present times, the monastery is inhabited by around 1,400 to 2,000 monks who live in seclusion from the world and its women. They grow and cook their own food, work on renovating and cleaning the monasteries, and do every other task that needs to be done to keep the place running.

Just like their lives, their clocks are unsynchronized from the world. It's the only community on earth that measures time according to the standards of the Byzantine Empire. Their new day starts at sunset, resulting in a six-hour time difference.

Though Mount Athos is mostly known for probably being the largest place on earth where women are not allowed, it is also on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites.

Sunday Celebrations

 Easter Sunday

The most festive day of the Greek year. A day of feasting, laughter, dancing, shared with family, friends, neighbours and passers-by

'Nuff said

Dancing family 

Daughters Elli and Danae, son in law Yiannis, grandaughters

The Patriarch with his grandchildren 

Poppi in high spirits 

Table of friends and family

Daughter Danae, neighbour Monique, Jan and Me

 

Granddaughter Luli turned 18

More dancing

Danae and her 2 daughters Nels and Poppi 

And the dog

Boem

Till next year

Or the next name day

Birthday

Anniversary 

National Day

Church fiesta

Saturday

 Saturday..... almost done

The ceremony of the Holy Fire took place again without incident. The Light is on its way from Jerusalem in the Presidential plane. All is well with the Greek Orthodox world. Every home will have a candle lit from the sacred flame which appears 'miraculously' every Easter in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Holy Land. 

K cut up all the innards of the Easter lamb, heart, kidney, lungs, liver, spleen, intestines and I have started the mageritsa. This is the soup made from innards, lettuce, dill and rice, thickened with egg and lemon juice. 

There's just the midnight service to attend, or maybe just watch on TV. There are live broadcasts from the Cathedral in Athens and from the Patriarchal Cathedral in Konstantinople (Istanbul to you). 

Once 'Christ is Risen' there will be fireworks, much kissing of cheeks and a rush home to end the Lenten fast with family and friends, eating the Easter soup, cracking red eggs and quaffing a few glasses of wine

First though we have to refresh the cross in the doorway protecting our household from the evil eye

Our distant neighbours across the ravine have gathered from Athens for the Easter holiday.  They've been celebrating, loudly, from early afternoon . 

7pm and it's gone quiet. They must be sleeping it off. I hope they don't go down for the midnight mass and return at 2am refreshed and ready to continue an all night revel

So everyone

Happy Orthodox Easter

Happy Easter celebrations to our Serbian Orthodox family in NZ

And keep safe kiwis!!  Our NZ family are in the eye of Cyclone Vaianu

Good Friday

 No work today especially not before the church bells ring at around 10am.  It's a very Holy day. K eats boiled potatoes, bread and olives. Not even any oil

The bells ring the death knell all day. Christ is taken down off the cross and put on his flower bedecked bier ready for the candlelight parade tonight. 

The tradition is.....

To make the rounds of the 4 big churches to see each flower decorated Epitafio (funeral platform).  When my girls were wee children my greek sister-in-law encouraged them to crawl underneath to ensure good health.

Today my 'wee' granddaughters did just that, 3 times, making the outline of a cross.

And having a giggle methinks

Meanwhile I went out for coffee and hot(cross-less) buns with 2 dear friends

Jan and Birgit

We go back many many years, all of us are local-aliens

As the English tradition is to eat hotcross buns on Good Friday, that is what we did.  I made an overnight dough and baked them this morning.  

The last batch turned out like hard little rocks so I made sure these were more than a mouthful and quite soft and fluffy too. Perfect with a morning cappuccino or frappé. 

K was busy delivering little gifts of red eggs and koulourakia to friends, neighbours and family. As is the custom (not to mention the tradition) 

The day ended with the candlelight light parade

Elli and Luli

And all the family

Followed the Epitafio with our plain brown beeswax candles

Danae

The after show

Another family tradition

Lenten meze (selection of tasty little greek nibbles) and a few glasses of wine or beer

Thursday Work Day

 Holy Thursday.... work day

Traditionally the day to dye all those eggs.  Traditionally the colour is red

Chief Easter Bunny 

Traditional day for traditional koulourakia too

The little easter bunnies getting into action, Nels and Poppi

Factory line

Because they've got butter and eggs they not supposed to be eaten till after midnight on Saturday

I can assure you they're delicious, buttery, crisp on the outside, orangey and aromatic

The Easter bunnies had a Nana-list

Moving round the heavy pots in the garden and doing some pruning

Changing the duvet cover

Searching out stuff at the back of the cupboard

Scrubbing a few winter rugs

Poppi doing what she's told to by her big sister

Poppi says she is NOT doing what her sister is telling her to do. Pritz! NEVER

They cleaned up everything before they left, did all the dishes, hung the rugs over the gate to drip dry. I was exhausted just watching them 

Grandkids grow up and move on. It's absolutely wonderful when they return