Greece's Epiphany - Water and Light after Twelfth Night

Epiphany is Greece's purest religious holiday. Christmas is happily subdued; Easter's secular aspect runs amok, often on 12 cm heels. Glorious days mark the Orthodox calendar, but none so literally cleansing as this most bracing of holidays.

We are expecting a cold snap now- sometime over twelfth night the temperatures are expected to plunge into freezing, making the morning's ritual more testing. Commemorating the baptism of Christ, all the waters- every bay, open sea, lake, and river will be blessed. That involves throwing in a cross, and someone bringing it back. Our house is by the sea, and all of the neighborhood's congregations will form colorful processions to the waterfront starting around 10:30, led by priests and richly robed altar boys. Young men of the congregations board boats with the priest. He will throw a cross far into the water and after a breathless hush - a fraction of a second - the young men will dive after it and we all gasp, even though we know what we're expecting. It's a thrilling moment- a display of bravery and strength, vanquishing the brutal elements on behalf of us all.

We return to the church, the mood a little boisterous. Inside, the line moves quickly as we approach the altar for our blessing, a brisk bask of a great bundle of basil fresh and damp with holy water to the forehead and each shoulder. the air is sweet with the scent of it. Outside the church, holy water flows though spigots from huge vessels and we fill the containers we have brought from home. We sip some, and bring it back for anyone still at home to to take. We give some to out pets, and pour a little into each of our plants, blessing home and its every living thing.

Celebrating today are names that have to do with light and the heavens and Divine joy, like Fotis and Foteini, Urania, and Theoharis.

Anything you do with water today should be particularly blessed. (It's even a good day to bathe your dog.)

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The Best Good Friday

Good Friday is the best holiday of the Easter cycle. The Resurrection- pinnacle of the season- is for most of us fleeting- we join the crowd filling the streets around the church, receive the light, break eggs, and kiss a lot of cheeks. It's joyous, but so brief. Mageiritsa is waiting.

Good Friday is- technically- not joyous, and certainly not brief. Bells of mourning have been pealing at measured intervals all day. The stores open around noon so everyone has time to kiss the epitahio. After sundown, the church fills up again- to kiss the epitaphio if you haven't already- and then to file out of the church to join the procession around the neighborhood.

For a couple of hours, the city transforms. Decked out altar boys-

priests with megaphones under the golden streetlights-

and the blossom covered Epitaphio followed by the congregation make their way through the streets, 

navigating through the parked cars. 

At the lager churches, a military marching band joins the procession, and so do the scouts-

Everyone's holding candles, also form the balconies above, and as solemn an occasion as it is, there is joyous anticipation. The flags are at half mast now-

But we will all be back here tomorrow night for the church's most joyous, light-filled moment of the year

to say Χριστός ανέστη (Christ has risen), and Κάλο Πάσχα (Happy Easter), take the light back with us into our homes, and feast with joy.

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The Fragrance of Easter

Greek Easter is a season, not a day. Clean Monday- the beginning of Lent- starts the long build-up from the the season of naked branches to the season of leaves the size of children's hands. The last of the apples, a little withered, give way to the first strawberries, as nature illustrates the spiritual rebirth. The most solemn week of the Christian calendar is, in truth, brimming with joyous anticipation.

Palm Sunday brings the welcome taste of fish- those who have been observing the Orthodox fast have had nothing of creatures with blood- no meat, dairy, eggs, or fish, eating only seafoods, vegetables, olives, oil and bread.

Holy week, the fast resumes, with many from Wednesday on taking no oil, and some from Good Friday fasting altogether. Of course, alongside the fast, joyous preparations begin.

Tsoureki fresh this morning at our neighborhood bakery "Thoma"

The Easter treat is tsoureki- a sweet, eggy bread rich with butter- not unlike challah or babka or kulich.  Depending on the region and the household, it will be flavored various ways- mahlepi, the inner seed kenel of the pit of a certain cherry (like noix from the pits of apricots) is classic- it is said to taste like cherries and bitter almond, but to me it smells much more mysterious- and a little musty- like incense. Others use mastika, the dried resin of a wild pistachio tree that grows only on the island of Chios (the source of our verb masticate)- it looks like a crystal and tastes like a forest.

Clockwise from 7 o'clock- mahlepi, cardamon, and rocks of mastika.

You can buy great tsoureki, but then your house will not be filled with the scent of Easter. The dough is satisfying to knead and fun to braid and twist into shapes. A child, covered with flour and standing on a chair next to a patient grandmother, can usually be called on to help with this. Tsoureki bake astonishingly quickly- a moment too long and they are dry. Tsoureki should be moist and pull apart into long strands, the mark of thorough kneading. I would gladly share a recipe with you, but I am still searching for the right one.

Ingredients for tsoureki, including a special flour

The same day, commemorating the crucifixion, we dye eggs truly deep blood red- a color you can only buy in markets that sell things to Orthodox communities. No amount of food coloring will get the effect. The eggs will be polished lightly with oil, and whatever are not braided into the tsourekia will be displayed on the table, to be brought to Church for the resurrection on Saturday night. The dye needs lots of vinegar- simmering with the dye it fills the air. Like the smell of tsoureki baking, you can tell it's Easter with your eyes closed.

Good Friday on an island must be wonderful- friends tell me that when they were girls they would gather the day before to decorate the Epitaphio with flowers. I don't know who prepares the Epitaphio in the city but, they are covered too, flowers woven all over the frame and canopy. In the evening, people gather at every church to follow the epitaphio though the streets in a procession. All along the way people come out onto their balconies with candles. Sometimes two processions meet- In Thessaloniki, the Epitaphia of Grigoriou Palama and Agia Sophia meet at the intersection of Agias sophias and Tsimiski. The altar boys are little guys; they get bored waiting- once two of  them ended up on the ground, horsing around in their elaborate robes. The nun was cross.

The next day is madness- all last minute gift shopping and hair salons, mageiritsa cooking, and buying lambadas- candles to receive the light of the resurrection. What's mageiritsa? You'll probably know there is usually a whole lamb (or goat) roast on the spit for Easter Sunday. the organs are wrapped into tight bundles with the scrubbed-clean entrails to make this traditional Easter Soup- these bundles simmered in an egg-lemon broth green with fresh herbs. This is the soup to break the fast after the resurrection.

Sometime after 11, the churches and and grounds and streets around them fill. We're all dressed up, and some of us not necessarily modestly (after church is mageiritsa, and after mageiritsa- bouzoukia). Around midnight the bells toll and the light of the resurrection spreads from the church through the crowd, the scent of flames and melting beeswax fill the air as one candle lights another, a joyous moment.

Technically it's not the mageiritsa that breaks the fast- that is the first meal. But the first thing we eat? The eggs- we have all brought red eggs from our homes. and not just any red eggs- everyone has chosen their own egg, the one they think has the best chances against the other eggs- we crack them against one another, end to end, the aim that your egg stays intact. And now it's mageiritsa, the whole family around the table. No one will be in bed before 1:30 or 2 tonight, not even the children, and many of us will not go to bed before the sun rises on Easter morning.

More on Easter:

Imam Biyaldi- perfect for Holy Week

Marble Eggs from onion skins

Ricotta Pie Esperdy (for a taste of Easter in Manhattan)

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Celebrating Christmas in Greece.

Agia Sophia. Thessaloniki.

For the most part, we have to make do without a sugar-coating of snow (unless we drive up to the mountains- never far!). Apart from that, the Greek holiday season has everything going for it, classic, spontaneous, and above all, authentic. Festive, generous, and maybe not so commercial.

Christmas-

It is not St. Nick or Claus that the children await, but St. Vassilis, who is celebrated on January 1. Even if you are not religious (or Christian), it's refreshing to have this otherwise gargantuan holiday have less emphasis on shopping, more on generosity, friends, and gratitude. 

The week leading up to Christmas-

Make Kourabiedes and Melomakarona- they are in every house and every shop. Or buy them (but at least make the Kourabiedes- they are all about the butter and the store bought ones are with cheaper alternatives. Also they are very easy to make.) 

Buy mandarin oranges- they make the house smell fabulous! Everyone has them around for the holidays. Get a few kilos- forget pointsettas, you want mountains of these! Get them at the weekly "laiki" market- cheaper, fresher, more fun.

Christmas Eve day- 

This used to start early, really pre-dawn early. Why? The "Calanda." I would lose sleep for this custom any day. Kids go door to door singing one specific carol (they come back New Year's Eve day, with another specific carol). They say "Should we sing it?" and we answer "sing it!" and they do, as fast as possible, not always skilfully, and with triangles clanging hectically. Why so fast? We give them money. They make a shocking amount! In the past the bell would ring constantly. Now, we are lucky to have five or six groups a day.

Hope for the best and start saving up your change. We want to keep the custom alive so be generous- a euro each and five for a larger group is not too much. 

Christmas Eve Day-

Resist the practical urge to shop for your meal in advance at a well-stocked supermarket on the edge of town. Get whatever you can at your small local specialty shops (reserve your meats in advance)- each is decorated and full of cheer.

My favorite shop on Kalidromiou,
Exarchia, (Athens)

Leave a few of the lighter-weight purchases for town and brave your central market- three days a year seized with madness- today, the 31st, and "Tsiknopempti." Buy your cheeses and meet up with friends at the impromptu street parties at every cafe and shop. Smoke from grilling souvlakia fills the air. Gypsies are out with drums and clarinets (better from a distance). Gypsy kids are out too. I'm pretty sure they don't get to keep the money they gather, but they will definitely eat the chocolates that buy specially in order to stuff into your jacket pockets or bag to share with them. And get some roasted chestnuts!- Thessaloniki, Athens, Rockefeller Center- smells like holidays. And a cup of Salepi- a thick hot drink from the pounded root of a wild orchid-

Too loud and crazy? Stop into a church, light a candle, and think about things to be grateful for-

Agios Dimitrios, Thessaloniki. 

Try to get home in enough time for a nap, because Christmas Eve is family first, and "Reveillon" later- after a family dinner, many go out for Reveillon at bouzoukia and bars, returning in they soft gray light of dawn. In addition to the holiday, all the Christos and Christinas have their name day tomorrow, and many are out celebrating tonight.

Christmas Day-

A big family dinner- lamb or goat, or often the only time a year a Greek family buys a turkey. The typical stuffing? Rice, with chestnuts and pine nuts. No cranberry sauce (they totally do not get it. "Jam? Jam with the meat?"). It's delicious anyway. More Korabiedes and Melomakarona, and usually some Champagne!

The 26th-

Businesses and shops are closed for the second day of Christmas- a relaxing day for seeing family and friends. But cafes and bars are open (Clubs too- we are having our Christmas party with the Speakeasies, Thessaloniki's fabulous Swing band, and special cocktails by Charlene- if you are in Thessaloniki, come by!)

Now we have the rest of the week to prepare for the New Year's celebrations- a holiday Greece does superbly.

Kala Christouyenna.

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