EASTER IN GREECE is celebrated in every corner of the country with an aroma of spring, symbolizing the Resurrection I and revival with the awakening of nature. Each year, the piety of the faithful and the greatness of the Holy Drama meet with greek tradition through customs and local traditional celebrations, that were inspired and kept by whole generations through the centuries. So, in whichever area one finds oneself, he will experience this religious holiday with splendor and devoutness, but in a different way: the ritual of the Holy Week, the observance of traditions and customs, the festivities that differ from place to place.

Of course, some aspects of Easter in Greece are familiar to all, such as Palm Sunday, when churches are decorated with noble laurel or palm-tree leaves on some of the islands- that are handed out to the congregation.

During Holy Week, monasteries, churches and chapels throughout the country, embrace the faithful like as a warm shelter, in an atmosphere of devotion. All neighborhoods in the cities and villages are filled with the aroma of freshly-baked bread and the traditional. Easter cakes, kneaded by the women, and kitchens are filled with red dyes and eggs on Holy Thursday. The Church vigil where women and young girls stay up all night singing the lamentations of the Holy Mother is an unforgettable experience.

The decoration of the Epitaph with freshly cut flowers or wild flowers on Good Friday is carried out in an atmosphere of anticipation for the joy of the Resurrection. In fact, even today, parishes in the same area compete between themselves about which one has the most beautifully decorated Epitaph. The change in the ringing of the bells is also characteristic, which from the mourning toll on Good Friday becomes a joyful melody on the night of the Resurrection.

Easter Sunday in Ahladi

On Holy Saturday, in and around the churches, the faithful hold decorated candles ready to receive the Holy Light and sing - Christ is Risen - when the bells ring all over Greece at midnight. Returning home, they carry the "ever-shining light" and families gather around the table to enjoy a bowl of Easter soup "magiritsa" and other traditional local dishes, after days of fasting. On Easter Sunday morning, all neighborhoods in Greece are filled with color and life, as every family roasts a lamb on the spit, whilst friends and neighbors visit, exchanging best wishes, treats and laughs.

Visitors can experience all these pictures throughout Greece, adding brush-strokes of color from the local customs and celebrations. Besides, behind each custom there is a myth, a story or a need of the people to celebrate Easter in a different way.

Throughout the centuries, Easter celebrations in Roumeli have become famous, due to the customs, and the traditional atmosphere of the festivities where both young and old participate. In many areas of Sterea Ellada, one of the customs which is observed is that of the -lakkos- (pit).

Easter in Roumeli is uniquely celebrated at Dadi, in Amfiklia. There, in every neighborhood, “pits" are dug out, where many lambs are roasted together and visitors are also treated to red eggs, wine and sweets. On Easter Tuesday, the church of Aghia lerousalim is celebrated, which is at the entrance of the “Varsamo" gorge. After the service, there is folk dancing at -Alonaki-, and visitors share easter dishes, red eggs, fresh cheese and wine.

A SERIES OF FESTIVITIES also take place in Arachova. On Easter Day, the icon of St. George is carried around the town in a procession, followed by hundreds of people dressed in traditional costumes. On this day, the view of Arachova resembles a place burning from the many fires in the pits in every neighborhood, where dozens of lambs are roasting. Traditional dishes include fried lamb offal, wine from Arachova and red eggs, offered by women to the people around the -pits-. On Easter Monday, the elders make their way, starting from the church of St. George, to the top of the hill followed by groups of folk dancers. In the afternoon, women's dancing groups perform folk dancing. Festivities continue with "kleftika" games, such as stone lifting, etc. The great holiday and easter customs are celebrated in the same way in the close-by Eptalofo or Agoriani.

The unique Easter in "Livadia" is also characteristic, kept alive by the great interest shown by young people for the custom of the "pit". After the Resurrection and before dawn the people of Livadia prepare the fire with skill and care. One of them, after making the sign of the cross, ignites the fire using his Easter candle. With frequent sprinklings of water and thrashing with a stick, the charcoals are ready to roast the lambs. The same thing is done at all the “pits'', and the smoke covers the rising sun, creating a cloud over the town. The turning of the spit and the celebrations last until the afternoon, supplemented with the participation of traditional dancing groups and fireworks that illuminate the sky.

AT ETOLIKO, many worshippers also visit on Good Friday the church of the Assumption of the Holy Mother, where the Epitaph is a historic treasure dating from the 13^th and14h century. At the same church, there is also the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, which is believed to be the work of the Evangelist St. Luke. From the morning of the Holy Saturday until late at the night of the Resurrection, which is the day's highlight, many of the people's customs are revived in the town's main square. On Easter Sunday each neighborhood is a large open-air grill, where singing and dancing are in the lead, while wine and traditional snacks are offered to all.

In Nafpaktos, firebrands are a tradition in the area. On the evening of Good Friday, crowds of people, local and visitors, follow the procession of the Epitaph, forming trains of people that pass through the port, where there are firebrands specially placed at some points of the Castle, forming a large cross, which illuminates the whole area. This custom is a long standing tradition, which seems to join the religious rites with the heroic effort of fire-ship captain Anemogianni to burn the Turkish flagship in this area.

Those who are in Attica during Easter time can choose Megara, where the

-Dance of Trata" is celebrated, a unique traditional custom originating from the time of the Turkish Occupation. According to tradition, the local people asked the Pasha to allow them to build a small church, receiving the reply that the building should be finished before the evening of the same day, with penalty their own lives. With great zeal, the people managed to finish the church at midday, and named it after St. John from Galilee. Ever since then and at this site, after the church service, there are celebrations with traditional groups and musicians from Megara dancing the dance of Trata.

In Evia, a well known custom is revived at Aliveri on Easter Monday. It is the custom of Kamara. During the evensong of love at the church Panagitsa (Holy Mother) people gather at the courtyard of St.George and there begins a joyful Easter dance with the most fat and having the best voice man on the lead. It is worth noting that in this particular custom of kamara, there is a connection with the legend of the bridge of Arta, as the song sang by the leading dancer, accompanied by an unrehearsed choir, is none other than the folksong "the bridge of Arta". This custom was initially started by the builders of the church that probably came from Epirus.

Photos from the  a reenactment of a naval battle between Greece and Turkey, wherein a ship is blown up in effigy of the shore of Spetses, along with one of the most impressive fireworks shows

Those who go to Chalkidiki for Easter must not miss the celebration of the custom "Tou Mavrou Niou taloni (the unfortunate young man's threshing floor) , on Tuesday after Easter at the site bearing the same name in the hills of lerissos. After the memorial service and the day's speech, the elders lead the dance. Gradually, all the local people join in, forming a long train which sometimes is 400 meters long. They sing and dance all Easter songs and end with the "kangelefto" dance, which is a reenactment of the massacre of 400 men by the Turks, during the 1821 revolution. The dancing group passes under the laurel arch, where there are two young men with their swords raised, and at the middle of the song it turns with the dancers passing one in front of the other in a last farewell. Visitors are offered easter bread, eggs and coffee, which boils in a large dixie, "zografitikos". The dance is done all over again in the afternoon at the main square of the village. Also in Chalkidiki, the Holy Cross, which is kept at the monastery of Xiropotamou in Aghio Oros, is taken to the village Petrokerasa, which has the “sacred right'',unique in the whole world, to have the Holy Cross from Palm Sunday until Easter Monday morning. This is done in memory of the rescuing of the village from annihilation from plague, in mid 18th century.

Another well known custom at Litochoro in Pieria, when on the evening of Good Friday all Epitaphs meet at the market place, accompanied by choirs of local people. A day before, on Holy Thursday evening the Epitaphs are decorated by young unmarried women, who during Lent made flowers out of cloth.

Many different customs are kept in villages of Thrace until today. On the Saturday of Lazarus, girls in red dresses, -Lazarines-, go round the villages, holding a doll, pestle or distaff wrapped with colored cloths or a basket decorated with flowers, knocking on house doors and singing. Also, housewives bake small breads in human shape, called -Lazarides- that symbolize the spirit of Lazarus, who was risen by Christ. On Palm Sunday, pregnant women are hit with -vagia- by other women, to have an easy labor.

A characteristic custom in Arcadia is that of the lighting the fire in Tripoli on Easter Sunday. The city is covered by the smoke made by the fires that are gradually lit, starting just after midnight on the evening of the Resurrection, and visitors describe the view of the columns from the hill of Aghios Theodoros as unique. On Sunday morning, festivities begin with the participation of dancing groups, while local people and visitors revive the custom of kleftouria. Apart from lamb, wine from Tripoli, red eggs, easter cookies and snacks are offered to everybody. Another very impressive custom is that of the -balloons'', seen only at Leonidio. On the night of the Resurrection, the sky is filled with rising illuminating -balloons- by the faithful of each parish.

As soon as "Christ is risen” is heard and bells start ringing joyfully, the people go towards a clearing behind a hill, holding a construction, which looks like a small balloon and there is a small candle inside it. Due to the air buoyancy and the heat from the flame of the candle, the -balloons- start rising in the sky, and a little later, hundreds of small lights travel in the sky. At the same time, outside the church, the burning of Judas takes place, while on Sunday there great festivities in the Square.

Easter in Leonidion

In Laconia, Monemvasia is a pole of attraction at Easter, where interest is focused at the church of Elkomenos Christos, where all services of these days done. The sight of the Epitaph procession in the paved narrow streets of the medieval city is described as unprecedented. In the afternoon of Easter Sunday, in the church court-yard, there is the burning of Judas, a human model made of pieces of wood and straws, and filled with explosives.

In Kalamata also, there are many customs revived, such as the competition of the "bouloukia", which originates from the liberation fights of 1821. The contesters, in traditional costumes and armed with -saites-, that is cardboard pipes filled with gun-powder, have a -saita-war", on the foot-ball grounds of Messiniakos, with the participation of spectators.