Μεγάλη Δευτέρα | Holy Monday: On Holy Monday most Christians start fasting by not consuming any meat, eggs and cheese. This might be a bit difficult for Greeks but it’s worth it!
Μεγάλη Τρίτη | Holy Tuesday is the day that most Greeks prepare their Easter cookies. The women of the family, mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, grandmothers etc- get together and make “koulourakia” easter cookies for the whole family!
Μεγάλη Τετάρτη | Holy Wednesday or Spy Wednesday is the day that Judas betrayed Jesus. At the end of the church service, all worshippers are blessed with holy oil on the forehead, the chin, the cheeks and their hands. All household chores must be finished today!
Μεγάλη Πέμπτη | Holy Thursday is the day we dye eggs in red color to symbolize the blood of Christ, and bake the sweet Easter bread, “Tsoureki”. All these easter delicacies should be eaten only after Saturday night. This is also the day that churchgoers bow before Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Μεγάλη Παρασκευή | Good Friday is a day of sorrow. Girls decorate the Epitaphio – Jesus’s funeral bier – and a service is held for Christ’s funeral. At 9:00pm the Epitaphios procession begins with men carrying Epitaphios through the town’s and village’s streets under total mourning.
Μεγάλο Σάββατο | Holy Saturday: After 9:00pm people start going to the church and by 12:00am the whole of Greece attends the midnight service, where everyone lights their easter candles with the holy light and greet each other with cries of “Christ is risen” – Χριστός Ανέστη. Millions of fireworks are thrown all over Greece during the celebration! After midnight service people can’t wait to get home and enjoy “Mageiritsa” – a special meat soup – eggs and cheese as fasting has reached to its end!
Κυριακή του Πάσχα | Easter Sunday is when families and friends get together to roast the lamb on a spit. The celebration lasts all day with food, wine, music and dancing!
