Living The Life We Deserve, Part II

Trip Start Nov 02, 2006
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Trip End Dec 19, 2007


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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

This year, Orthodox and Christian Easter was on the same day. In Greece, Easter is a huge holiday with many traditions. So being here on Easter weekend meant less touristy activities and less restaurant options (especially on Sunday night and Monday), but it also meant we got to witness many of the traditions.

There are services both Friday and Saturday night. On Friday night, a procession, including a coffin (symbolizing Jesus'), leaves the churches after the service. For Saturday night, we went into Athens witness the passing of the light, which follows the service. The area around churches are packed with people holding candles and near the end of the service, the light of Christ is passed around. It is amazing how quickly hundreds of people get their candles lit. The original light actually is taken from a historic site in the Middle East and flown to Athens on Saturday morning on a special flight. It is then passed to all the churches and at the stroke of midnight, it is passed to the masses. With chanting in the background, hundreds of Athenians holding candles then head to have a post-Lent dinner (lamb roasted right in front of you) all around town. It really is an unique sight to see. Oh, and there are fireworks.
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