Greek Easter

"Lady Saracosti"

"Pascha" (=Easter) in Greece is the most important religious holiday of the year and the one richest in folklore. For the Greek Orthodox , Pascha is even more important than Christmass. The word "Pascha" stems from the jewish "Pesach" which means passover. Jewish people celebrated "Pesach" to commemorate their liberation from the Egyptians and the passage of the Red Sea, while Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the passage from the death to life, from earth to heaven.

In ancient Greece, Easter time coincided with the month of Anthesterion, a celebration of spring and the rebirth of vegetation.

The preparation for the Greek Easter starts 40 days before. It is the period of Lent, in greek "Saracosti". During this period the devout avoid all animal products (meat, milk, butter etc). 

A nice Greek custom of this period is the "Lady Saracosti", a calendar of the period of Lent. Women and children draw on a piece of paper the figure of a woman who had no mouth , as Lady Saracosti is fasting, and whose hands were joined together as in prayer. She had seven legs, one for each week. Every Saturday they cut off one leg. On Holy Saturday they cut off the last leg and they put it in a dry fig so that it would bring luck to whoever found it.

On the Saturday before the Holy Week, the resurrection of Lazarus is celebrated. The housewives bake the "Lazarakia". Those are cookies that have the shape of a man (which is supposed to be Lazarus) wrapped in a shroud.

This day children are going from door to door singing the hymn of "Lazarus" and collecting money and eggs.

The next day is called Palm Sunday. This day commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, when crowds were waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the Messia. The branches of the palm trees sympolize Christ's victory over the devil and death. In Greece all churches are decorated with palm and bay branches. Many people place these palm leaves into the icon stand of the house as blessings and lucky charms.