Greek Easter Traditions and Recipes

Greek Easter Traditions and Recipes

Easter is the most sacred observance in the Greek Orthodox faith.

Preparations and customs remain some of the most

traditional in modern Greek life. Greek Easter (Pascha- in greek) arrives accompanied by the smells of spring, the rebirth of nature and the flower-carpeted ground.

The word “Pascha” stems from the Jewish “Pasah” which means “Passover”. Jewish people celebrated “Pasah” to commemorate their liberation from the Egyptians and the passage of the Red sea, while Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ the Savior and the passage from death to life.The corresponding Greek word for “Pascha” is “Lambrí” (Brightness) because the day of the resurrection of Christ is a day full of joy and exhilaration.






For the Greek Orthodox Easter, the church follows the Julian calendar, and that is why some years Greece celebrates Easter at a different time to other countries.





Easter begins on the Saturday of Lazarus (the Saturday before Palm Sunday, 1 week before Easter Sunday) with children going from door to door singing the hymn of "Lazaros" and collecting money and eggs.
The week leading up to Paschain Greece is called MegaliEvdomatha.


On the morning of Palm Sunday people gather in church and are given a cross made from palm fronds, which they put on their icon-stands at home and keep it for the whole of the coming year.


Every evening throughout Holy Week, people gather in church to follow with devoutness the Passion of Christ.



Holy Thursdayis the day for dyeing eggs. In the evening, after the reading of the 12 Gospel, the girls undertake the decoration of the bier of Christ (epitaphios) with garlands of white and purple flowers, so that in the morning of Good Friday it is ready to receive the image of the body of Christ when He is taken down from the cross.



Good Fridayis a very holy day in the orthodox faith. It is a day of mourning and the church bells will ring slow and steady through the day. People will be flocking to the church at all times of the day for prayers. It is a day of no work (or cooking).




Vesper evening on Good Friday is followed by the procession of the bier (representing Christ's funeral). A band or choir playing or singing solemn music precedes the procession; they are followed by the cantors, the clergy, women bearing myrrh, the altar boys carrying the liturgical fans, scouts and guides, and the people of the region, who sing the hymns throughout the procession. All along its route, people scatter flowers and perfumes on the epitaphios(bier), holding lighted candles in their hands.

On Holy Saturdayevening, the Resurrection mass (Anastasi=resurrection, the Resurrection of Jesus) takes place. At midnight the ceremony of lighting of candles is the most significant moment of the year. The whole of Greece, it seems, attends church for the midnight service and the lighting of the Holy Flame. The Priest passes the Holy Flame throughout the congregation and all light a candle with cries of Christos Anesti!-Christ is Risen

People, carefully, take home their lighted candles with the holy light of the Resurrection. Before entering their houses they make a cross with the smoke of the candle on top of the door, they light the oil candle before their icon-stand, and try to keep this light burning throughout the year.




On Easter Sunday friends and family gather in homes, eating lamb on the spit and dyed eggs. Before the red eggs are eaten, however, you must crack them against your neighbors, and whoever wins by having a whole egg at the end, will get all the luck.



Easter celebration is known for Easter Lamb. With the start of this new season of lambs, chefs have a great time up and down every country. Lambyummy and deliciousreally suit the festivity as Pesahof Jews, in which Lamb has been an important dish, falls just before the day of crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Traditional Greek Easter celebration includes some more fantastic tastes and flavor combinations, like Mageiritsaa meat soup made with offal.
The women bake also Tsoureki, an easterbread, slightly sweet in taste and koulourakia, butter cookies .





On Easter Sunday, there is a festive atmosphere everywhere and people eat and dance usually until late into the night.