Good Friday

 It was Good Friday yesterday in Orthodox Greece. And in Serbia. Tomorrow the Serbian branch of my NZ family will be celebrating in a similar way at the other end of of the world.

Good Friday evening there is a candlelight parade and each of the 4 big churches with their congregation meet in the main square.

The Epitafio of St Nikolas, the church at the Navy Base

Last night it was a parade without candles. It was blowing too hard to keep a candle lit. We went down to join the throng, hordes, invasion, to see Poppi carrying the Epitafio of our local church. This is a heavy wooden structure decorated by the church ladies in swathes of spring flowers. It is presumed to be the bier of Christ. 

Coming down the steps from the church of St George. In the narrow 'stairwell' the wind was blocked and candles stayed lit for a short while

We went down early to get parking but still ended up stuck in between 2 cars and only left with many manoeuvres . There must have been a few thousand people down in the square. I tried to take photos but all I could get were heads with hands holding phones aloft taking videos. We couldn't see Poppi but family sent photos and video. It was a great honour for her. It's rare to see a female holding the epitafio.

Our Poppi

Meanwhile at the big Cathedral in Central Athens grandson George was in the front line guarding the big Epitafio. They showed the whole ceremony, parade, and him, on TV but we missed that. Fortunately there were photos and videos taken of him as well. 

Our hearts swelled with pride. I spit on my grandchildren. Don't want any of them to suffer from an evil eye.

The big church on the waterfront brought their Epitafio along in a kaïki  (fishing boat) . 

On their return to the church the boat did a short trip around the harbour.

It was magical .

And now it's Saturday and we are preparing for Sunday. The offal soup which we eat at midnight is bubbling away. The lamb is waiting to be stuck on a spit. Hotcross buns are wafting their aroma through the house. 

And it's raining. 

We are supposed to be going to the midnight service but we may skip it and watch the Athens service on TV. 

At midnight, Christ Is Risen. Down town all hell let's loose, bells ringing, fireworks going off, ship horns blowing, thousands of people shouting greetings to friends, neighbours, family. I've done that many many times. 

The Holy Light was brought again from Jerusalem without incident.  The light arrives in Athens on the Presidential plane and is sent all through Greece, usually coming to Poros just before midnight. At midnight all the lights in the churches are turned off and the Priest emerges with his candle lit from the Holy Light. 

Everyone holds a candle and the light is passed from hand to hand to be taken home to make a cross over the front door and to be kept alight in a family lamp.

If we do attend the midnight service we will go to the Monastery. There are fewer people and no fireworks. We go on the top road through the hills and avoid the traffic jams elsewhere on the island. 

Till tomorrow... 

The Pig..

 It looks as though K has closed the deal on the suckling pig. We were humming and haa-ing about spit roasting a whole pig for our summer visitors . We need to show them a genuine Greek feast but the smallest pig he could find was around 16 kilos. That would mean quite a few kilos of leftover pork even if everyone took home doggy bags. I can't imagine they'll want to take cold fatty pork back to their hotel rooms to eat for breakfast.  Good coffee and a hot cheese pie whilst sitting  on a balcony overlooking the Aegean sea will be more acceptable the morning after.

The pig will be slaughtered a few days before they all arrive and Ks friend will keep it in his big fridge. He's assured us this one won't be more than 12 kilos, head, trotters and all.

Now another problem has popped up. They arrive at the beginning of June and the fire ban will be in full swing. Smoke from our BBQ will attract the fire department and we will have a fire engine, siren shrieking, tearing down our cul de sac.

K will now have to negotiate with the fire department. We might need a 16 kilo pig after all so we can have a fire engine on stand-by outside the house and feed the crew.

Or we will get it roasted, in the oven, not on the spit, at the rustic taverna up the road. 

Negotiations continue......

The man who sells the pig also roasts pigs. We could get it delivered ready cooked.

Or, our fire fighter friend says we can bbq as long we have a hose and a fire extinguisher nearby.

At the moment K is deep in Easter lamb deliberations. Will we have traditional kokoretsi (innards covered with intestines) spit roasted alongside the lamb.  And what about those in the family that don't eat lamb or offal? Some prefer goat, others would appreciate a bit of chicken. Every year it's the same and every year it turns into a greek drama. 

Serious business .  The big day is this Sunday . Then he can get back to the pig.

 

Red Eggs

 The girls are back again to dye 32 eggs. K hard boiled them last night so they're all ready to go.

But the girls don't get off that easy. Once I've got them in my grasp they're 'forced' to do chores on my list. I always have a list.

They changed our sheets. I'm not allowed to lift mattress corners yet and K has problems with tendons in his shoulders. One down. 

They stored away all the carpets that were cleaned a couple of weeks ago, emptied the dehydrator in our bedroom. We have a lot of damp in our houses. They both have dehydrators which they say they empty way more often than ours. 

Next on the list was moving our very heavy concrete umbrella stand into position to give us shade at the front of the house. Easy peasy for a rower with strong arms. 

And then onto the eggs.  32 is the least we have ever dyed and it's more than enough. I don't know how K agreed to so few. It's usually double that. 

Of the 32 a dozen go off to family and another dozen to friends along with a small container of Easter biscuits. That leaves 8 for us. 3 or 4 will be cracked by us on Saturday night along with the offal soup so K will be left with 4 or 5 to have as a meze with his nightly glass of wine next week. Perfect.

Getting the red mix ready. 

It stains everything and I only had one pair of gloves. They wore one each and declined the use of aprons. Lucky there weren't any splashes

Once the dying is done and the eggs are dry they are polished with a little olive oil

Every year I keep an egg or two and we write the year on it. Most of them have broken but these ones survived. The yolk after a year or so turns into a hard amber ball. 

Then it's lunch time. No one leaves Papou's house without eating. They're not eating meat, for Holy week, so I fried some potatoes, the girls made a salad and I got a pizza margarita out of the freezer. Just the sort of meal kids love. 

Actually the pizza had 5 pieces of salami on top but I soon got rid of those and renamed it.

After lunch they pushed my quad bike across the road so I could start it. It has been sitting rusting away all winter. And it didn't start of course because the battery was flat.

Not a problem . I'm going to retire it. 

Chores all done they were free to leave ...along with red eggs and more Easter cookies. They've been having private lessons since school finished. They're a necessity here if your children want to go on to higher education. 

All lessons are finished till next week. They're free as birds to go swimming, sit in cafes with friends or promenade in groups, eat icecream, or whatever innocent activities I like to imagine them doing. 

May Day

 1st May

- A day to gather flowers and make wreaths to hang on doors, gates, your car.

I was so busy with Easter I forgot to find flowers and make a wreath. I foraged from neighbour's walls and gathered some rose and red geranium, pink and white oleander and made a bouquet.

My daughter bought this gorgeous wreath from our garden shop!

- A day of news black-out because all the journalists and news crews are on strike.

In fact it's a day of general strikes, marches and riots.  But we won't hear about it all till tomorrow morning.

- This year it lands in the middle of Holy Week and the granddaughters have been busy making easter biscuits, koulourakia.  Tomorrow on Holy Thursday they'll be here again dyeing red eggs.

Boat Show

Poros is hosting the East Mediterranean Yacht show for the 20th time. The island is bursting at its seams.  The yachts are leaving now after a long show weekend but more people are arriving.  It's Holy Week, schools are closed and Easter visitors are filling up all available Hotel rooms. 

The yacht persons stayed on their yachts. 

 
 

The red carpet was laid

for 120 luxury motor yachts, catamarans . That's about 2 kilometres of carpet, all the way along the waterfront

A kilometre or 2 of huge yachts

It doesn't mean much to us ordinary islanders but a new cafeteria with big comfortable chairs opened up right beside the beasts. We had a couple of coffees, did a bit of people watching .

All around us were crew drinking their iced espresso and comparing notes. The, young, women all dressed in the latest, most expensive, brightest summer fashion. 

A few bigger-wiggers discussed the season and the market.

After 20 years of this show I'm not sure what it's all about. Big business. That covers it all.

I don't think you're allowed to climb all over them unless you've got serious business, loads of money or a powerful position.  You must be prepared to take off your shoes before climbing the gangplank and have a very official plastic thing hanging round your neck .

The gophers of the crews spent every minute polishing and cleaning. They arrived on the day of the dust storm so there was a lot of work needed to get them back to their gleaming condition. And a helluva lot of water used washing them all down first.

A huge truckload of flowers appeared before the official opening. Some were planted in the harbourside gardens, a lot of pots went into company kiosks. Leftover pots were hung in front of the rubbish bins in a not very successful attempt to disguise and beautify.

Doomsday?

 Poros is hit by an apocalyptic Saharan dust storm tonight. Day has turned into a spooky orange twilight.

It got so dark I had to turn on the lights. It's the sort of scenario where you expect to hear the town crier singing out

'Repent ye sinners. The end is nigh'

Tomorrow there should be a wind change which will blow the dust wave away to the east over the islands of the Dodecanese.

Athens. 

Taken by grandson this evening on his way, with his army squad, to lower the Greek flag on top of the Acropolis

The Dragon Slayer

 There'll Always be an England. 

 This song kept on coming up on my youtube list today and I've just realised why.  Tomorrow, 23rd April, is the Feast Day of Saint George. Saint George the Dragon Slayer is the Patron Saint of England.  

 

It did cross my mind that maybe you're not allowed to celebrate this day any more with all the religious turmoil over there.  But I see there was a parade by the Kings Guard and Horse and Cavalry on Saturday. There will be parades and celebrations all over the country, including Morris Dancing and Punch and Judy, they say on the net. You eat Toad in the Hole, Fish Pie and Fry-ups it seems.

Happy Name Day England.

The song 'There'll Always be an England' is a good stirring piece of music.  A good old  patriotic tune from days of old.  Britain has a few of those.  Britannia Rules the Waves comes to mind, and the hymn 'Jerusalem'.   

23rd April is also the Name Day of my grandson George, who is, at the moment, doing his military service in the Greek Army. However this year his fiesta falls during Orthodox Lent so we'll be celebrating with him on the day after Easter, May 6th.