More Easter Memories

Subtitle: Radiance speaks a language badly (AGAIN) and the intersection of hairspray and candles.

Greek Easter was my favorite holiday in Greece, just like Thanksgiving was my favorite when I lived in the US. That doesn’t mean that some of the traditions around it were explicable to a non-Orthodox person.

Leading up to Easter, village women – not sure about women in the cities, let their colored hair grow out and it’s a pretty clear indication that a celebration is in the works if you see someone with 1 – 2 inches or underlying color at the part in their hair. Just before Easter, much coloring, styling and spraying of hairspray take place.

The highlight of the Greek Easter celebration is going to church late on Saturday (Easter Eve). The priests have carried, via the church leaders, a lighted candle from a temple in Israel. Everyone gathers at the church carrying candles decorated with flowers and ribbons for the adults, and, much to my surprise by Ninja turtles, batman and Spiderman or Barbie for children. This struck me as very odd since I could not see any way that Ninja turtles had anything to do with Easter. Perhaps no more unusual than rabbits and chocolate eggs although eggs relate to one Greek Easter tradition.

In the days leading up to Easter, people dye eggs red to symbolize the blood of Christ and they are put atop large loaves of Easter bread. Since they are often too large for home ovens, in small villages you can see them being carried in the street from the local bakery which has lent it’s oven and back to the baker’s home.

Back to the candles. At the end of the service at midnight, the priests walk throughout the congregation and light each person’s candle. The candles are then carried home very carefully to smudge the door at home as some sort of protection for the coming year. The combination of lit candles and long hair, richly coated in very flammable hairspray had me worried and I’m afraid my worries were passed over to my daughter. She then started to worry about peoples’ hair being on fire. I never saw or heard about this happening but being a true Hiebert (my dad was a prize worrier) I couldn’t help myself from seeing this scenario.

As people leave church, they greet each other with “Christos Anesti” (Christ is Risen). The appropriate reply is “Alethos Anesti” (Truly Risen) but my Greek being what it is and was, I defaulted to my usual reply to all greetings, “Episis” (Same to you.) This may explain some bemused expressions but nothing can explain the need to go home or to a restaurant from church and eat intestine soup. No, I never did.