Only a few hours left when the streets of Greece and Greek Orthodox communities throughout the world ring with happy voices sharing "Christos Aneste" ! - Christ is Risen!...
Easter time, from the carnivals that come before the Lenten fast through Holy Week and the celebrations of Easter, is a special season in Greece.
This year, Greek Orthodox Easter is celebrated more than a month later than Easter observances in the Western church this year — on Sunday, May 5, 2013 — and marked by unique traditions that make Easter in Greece different than Easter celebrations in other lands.
The traditional foods on the Resurrection Table: hiroméri - smoked salted pork; cheeses; magiritsa - a creamy, lemony soup made from the lamb sweetmeats; koulourakia - Greek Easter bread; Tsoureki; Lambropsomo and other Easter breads and plenty of Greek wine, retsina and ouzo insure a feast which will last throughout the night.
After the night of feasting and celebration, everyone is still up early on Easter Sunday morning. The Easter Sunday table is prepared and the festivities continue! The Easter meal is truly a feast. Salads of beans, greens and seafood, vegetable dishes that are grilled or cooked to be served with the rice dishes, Kokoretsi, breads, cakes, cookies, wines, ouzo...
The main dish at the Easter Table is the lamb or goat (usually kid). Served in honor of the Lamb of God who was sacrificed and rose again on Easter, a whole spiced lamb roasted over a charcoal fire is the most traditional of Greek Easter foods. The Easter Sunday celebration lasts through the day while visits are made to family and friends and the Easter feast is shared with every guest.
Each person that enters the home is greeted with Gia to kaló tis iméras! - "For the good of the day!" with a plate of food and an invitation to join in the feast. Besides bringing insult and bad luck to a host who is rejected, the foods are so delicious...who could refuse?
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