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A day of mourning. Church bells toll the death knell all morning and flags fly at half mast.
For most it's first day of the Easter weekend. Cafes are filled with locals and visitors. For some men the tradition is to drink ouzo. A lot of ouzo.
It's one day in the year that K never touches a drop. Long story.
Shops open at 10am after the service where Christ Jesus is taken down from the cross and placed on the bier.
Now for Angela, or I should say Angeliki 😊 in Australia.
When children and grandchildren were young we would do a tour of the churches, 4 of them, to admire the flower decorations. The tradition was to send them under the biers and out the other side to bring them good health. When my girls were young we would all go with my Greek sister in law. Like K, her brother, she knows and follows all the old traditions.
In the evening there is a candle light parade and all the churches with their flower bedecked biers join together down on the harbour . All the island, all the visitors, Greek and foreign, turn out with their candles, plain brown beeswax tonight. The procession goes on all the way along the waterfront and we can see the procession across the water on the mainland. It's quite a sight with the candles bob bob bobbing along. It's annoying when it's windy and we can't keep the candles alight.
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It's refreshing to see that religious practices are still observed. Here, all the holidays are highly commercial, with no hint of spirituality. It's all spend, spend, spend - very sad, and we end up with the society we deserve - self-centred and ungenerous.
ReplyDeleteIt's the tradition here to buy a present for a godchild. A decorated candle for the Saturday night mass. A loaf of sweet bread and clothes or shoes. Otherwise there are a few chocolate eggs. Not a great selection. It's more church and family time
DeleteI can imagine the sight of all those candles lighting up the evening streets. How wonderful.
ReplyDeleteIt's even better nowadays when you see it all afterwards from above thanks to a drone 😅
DeleteThere was a time when dirge (as my mother called it) music was played on the radio on Good Fridays and we recognised the sombreness of the day. This is now long in the past. I wish we had more adherence to religious traditions here. People seem to be embarrassed to talk of religion and can only make jokes like "oh, do you see God in the sky". More fool them is all I can say if that is all that school taught them.
ReplyDeleteBritain seems to have changed a lot in the last few years. It was a Christian country but from I'm reading is trying too hard to show religious tolerance and leaving the Christians to the lions.
DeleteMany people here won't go to church on a Sunday but they'll all turn out for these big festivals, prefer to get married in church and expect a proper orthodox funeral.
Religion is also still taught in schools.
You are your Poros family and neighbours keep Christian traditions so well. Pray tell us more about K never having a drip today Linda.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to tell more Dave. It's a story you'd all love. Maybe one day. I'll write a draft and let my finger hover over the publish button. I'd be in deep sh*t if I pressed it
DeleteEaster traditions were special when I was growing up, the church services and traditions were something I looked forward to .
ReplyDeleteI helped my grandmother in her bakery making the Hot Cross buns, and Simnel cake.
Happy Easter dear friend.
~Jo
You were lucky to learn from your grandmother. Oh the smells! I shall make HotCross buns tomorrow. They won't be like your grandmother's though.
DeleteWe still celebrated Easter in the 60s in NZ , church services mainly and chocolate eggs
It's the last day of Passover here. Starting tomorrow evening, there will be bread in the stores again. Keeping tradition is a beautiful thing in my opinion, even if you don't lead a religious life.
ReplyDeleteThat's right Yael. I take part in them all and so does the family, young and old.
DeleteI hope your Passover was peaceful
Hello,
ReplyDeleteJust came across your blog via Cro Magnon's.
Like the others commented, it's fascinating to see the procession photos. I love these traditions. In England and London especially, this sort of cultural heritage is being lost.
Everyone looks so smart in their navy uniforms too (in the photo).
Thanks
Liam.
Hi Liam. We have just returned from this year's parade. Must have been a thousand or more people down on the waterfront all with their candles. It's quite a sight. And these processions were taking place all over Greece.
DeleteWhen we lived in Mexico we discovered many new and strange (to us) traditions. I like the idea of the candlelight procession.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about all these traditions. The Balkan countries have so many, similar but with a twist to the greek ones.
DeleteThank you. I kinda remember now You have explained it
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a take away cup with a hole in the bottom. You push the candle up into it and the cup helps protect the flame. Very important when your supposed to bring in back to your home
We can buy protectors now that are like those plastic cups only in bright colours. Thank goodness there was no wind last night
DeleteMany times in the year voluntary vets from Denmark and England sterilise them for free. They're assisted by animal lovers on the island, preparing the temporary clinic, nursing the recovering cats, and cleaning up afterwards.
ReplyDeleteCats are caught, neutered and released.
They all know where they will find food and as in this photo they'll appear as soon as they hear the car or bike approaching, impatiently waiting for their meal.