Easter Friday 18th May 2014
GOOD FRIDAY RESURRECTION CELEBRATION EASTER SUNDAY
Orthodox Easter is the biggest event on the Greek religious and social calendar. It's a time when tradition is not broken and family unite in the ceremonies and liturgies of this religious holiday. After a few weeks of sunshine and days that were nicely warming up, it was a bit of a shock to the system that the weather felt more like Christmas than Easter, with thunderstorms over the past couple of days which saw temperatures plummet back to winter. Still, rain, hail or shine, could not keep the locals away from their momentus and meaningful ceremony where they saw their religious epitaph paraded around their village.
In Kioni there was also the ceremonial burning of Judas. I decided to give that a break this year. I've watched Judas go up in flames for over 12 years and I do believe he has suffered enough, so this year I attended the Stavros ceremony for the first time. Vathy of course, also had it's parade and liturgy, as did most villages around the country, where the church is at the center.
