Use authentic materials to prepare a special week waiting Easter
GREEEK ORTHODOX EASTER CUSTOMS
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http://www.greekembassy.org/embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office=7&folder=966&article=23296
GREEEK ORTHODOX EASTER CUSTOMS
Greek Orthodox Easter
Considered the most important holiday on the Greek calendar, the celebration of Orthodox Easter (pascha) is unique in almost every corner of Greece. The uniqueness in celebrating Easter the traditional Greek way lies more in the week leading up to the event rather than the actual religious holiday. Special traditions mark not only the mourning of Christ’s Crucifixion and the celebration of Resurrection, but also the passage from winter to spring.
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Easter Customs
These are customs related to the religious holiday of Easter which is the biggest celebration of the Orthodox Christians and the one richest in folklore. The word “Pascha”, Easter in Greek, 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.
Easter is a moveable holiday. Its celebration falls on the first Sunday after the full moon of the spring equinox. For this year it is on Sunday April 27th.,2008. All over the country a plethora of customs and traditions are observed during the week prior to Easter (Holy Week).
The preparations for the celebration of the Resurrection start on Holy Thursday. On that day housewives traditionally prepare tsourekia (sweet buns resembling brioche) and color eggs with special red dyes. Ever since antiquity the egg symbolizes the renewal of life and the red color symbolizes the blood of Christ. In the past, people used to place the first red egg on the icon stand of the house in order to cast out evil spirits. In some villages they used to mark the head and the back of small lambs with the red dye used for the dyeing of the eggs. They also used to keep one of the big round Holy Thursday loaves at the icon stand in order to protect the members of the family from spells.
Friday is the most sacred day of the Holy Week, the day of the culmination of the passion of Christ with the deposition from the cross and Christ’s burial. Because it is a day of mourning, housewives do not do any house chores, avoiding even cooking. Women and children go to church to decorate the Epitaph (Bier of Christ) with flowers they collect or buy. In the morning of Good Friday, Christ’s Burial is reenacted in church and in the evening the Epitaph procession takes place.
On Easter Saturday morning, preparations start for the festive dinner of the night of the Resurrection and housewives cook “maghiritsa” (a tripe and herbs soup). Shortly before midnight, people gather in church holding white candles which they light with the “Holy Light” distributed by the priest. When the latter chants “Christ is risen” (Christós Anesti), people exchange wishes and the so-called “Kiss of Love”. With the “Holy Light” of the candles they thrice make the sign of the cross on the door post over the front door of their houses for good luck. Then they all gather around the festively laid table, they crack red eggs and feast on the traditional “maghiritsa”.
On Easter Sunday morning, in many parts of the country lamb is prepared on the spit. In other regions, the meat for the Easter table - lamb or kid - is roasted in the oven. There is a festive atmosphere everywhere and people eat and dance usually until late into the night.
Easter is a moveable holiday. Its celebration falls on the first Sunday after the full moon of the spring equinox. For this year it is on Sunday April 27th.,2008. All over the country a plethora of customs and traditions are observed during the week prior to Easter (Holy Week).
The preparations for the celebration of the Resurrection start on Holy Thursday. On that day housewives traditionally prepare tsourekia (sweet buns resembling brioche) and color eggs with special red dyes. Ever since antiquity the egg symbolizes the renewal of life and the red color symbolizes the blood of Christ. In the past, people used to place the first red egg on the icon stand of the house in order to cast out evil spirits. In some villages they used to mark the head and the back of small lambs with the red dye used for the dyeing of the eggs. They also used to keep one of the big round Holy Thursday loaves at the icon stand in order to protect the members of the family from spells.
Friday is the most sacred day of the Holy Week, the day of the culmination of the passion of Christ with the deposition from the cross and Christ’s burial. Because it is a day of mourning, housewives do not do any house chores, avoiding even cooking. Women and children go to church to decorate the Epitaph (Bier of Christ) with flowers they collect or buy. In the morning of Good Friday, Christ’s Burial is reenacted in church and in the evening the Epitaph procession takes place.
On Easter Saturday morning, preparations start for the festive dinner of the night of the Resurrection and housewives cook “maghiritsa” (a tripe and herbs soup). Shortly before midnight, people gather in church holding white candles which they light with the “Holy Light” distributed by the priest. When the latter chants “Christ is risen” (Christós Anesti), people exchange wishes and the so-called “Kiss of Love”. With the “Holy Light” of the candles they thrice make the sign of the cross on the door post over the front door of their houses for good luck. Then they all gather around the festively laid table, they crack red eggs and feast on the traditional “maghiritsa”.
On Easter Sunday morning, in many parts of the country lamb is prepared on the spit. In other regions, the meat for the Easter table - lamb or kid - is roasted in the oven. There is a festive atmosphere everywhere and people eat and dance usually until late into the night.
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http://www.greekembassy.org/embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office=7&folder=966&article=23296
Ingredients:
- Hard boiled eggs
- Carrots for ears
- Snap peas for nose
- Cabbage for tail
- Cheese for eye
- What to Do:
- Hard boil eggs and let cool. Remove shells. If your bunnies will not be presented in an egg dish, then cut a very thin slice from the bottom of the egg (lengthwise) so egg will not roll around.
- Cut thin carrot slices and shape into rabbit ears with a knife, making sure one end is very pointy. Insert pointy ends into egg for ears. Cut off tip of snap pea for nose. Push the pointed end into the front end of the egg. Make a small round tail from a white piece of cabbage, once again making a pointed end to push into the back of the egg. For eyes, cut two small little circles, using a small straw as a cutter, from your slice of cheese. Make sure the egg is not wet when you set the cheese eyes in place or they may slide out of place.
- Other veggies may be substituted for the nose and tail.
- http://www.parenting.com/article/bunny-shaped-egg-recipe
{create this} easy bunny treat cups
If you ask me, holidays are just not as much fun without yummy snacks, themed gifts and cute packaging! Lip balm is so much cuter tucked in a bunny shaped egg cup and popcorn's cute factor is increased to the power of 10 when it's covered in chocolate and doused in sprinkles! And any snack becomes down right adorable when served in a cute little bunny treat cup - complete with fluffy tail!
These bunny treat cups could not get any easier, so let's take a look at how to make them!
Bunny treat cup supplies:
- small white cups - I found these at Walmart for .97
- White and pink polka dot card stock
- glue dots or hot glue
- white felt
I just free handed bunny ear shapes out of white card stock and then did the same - a bit smaller - for the pink polka dot card stock. Stick the pink on the white and use a glue dot or a smidge of hot glue to stick the ears to the outside back of the cup. I folded one ear down on one cheeky little bunny cup.Now the tail:
Fold a 1 inch wide length of white felt in half and glue just the edges together - leaving the fold open. Snip down on the fold almost to the bottom of the piece of felt but don't cut all the way through. Roll and glue as you go to create the size tail you'd like. When you're done, fluff the tail and glue it to the outside of your cup.No treat cup is complete without something YUMMY to go inside! Like this white chocolate and powdered sugar covered "bunny tails" muddy buddies popcorn I shared yesterday!
Since all of the decorations are on the outside of the cup, you can also use this for a festive Easter Bunny punch or milk for Easter morning breakfast!
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