So today is Easter Day! It's a celebration that Christ has risen again and everyone can finally break their fast and devour the much craved for meat! Did you know that the word Easter is come from the Greek word "pascha" which means passover (the eternal passover from earth to heaven)? Yeh, they stole that from us...
OK so last night after church and the soup, you may have had the EGG WAR! Sometimes this is done on Sunday mornings with your breakfast though...
Basically, you know all those dyed eggs that were made the other day? Well, now we get to break them! It's actually a lot of fun and of course is symbolic of life (everything us Greeks do is symbolic!) So everyone chooses an egg from the basket and people take it in turns to tap everyone else's. If yours doesn't break then you will have good luck for the year! Oh and watch out for cheeky yiayias who seem to know the trick of holding the egg in a perfect way that it's almost impossible to break...
Onto the feast.. ahh! Well the men were probably up from 6am this morning lighting up the garvourna and getting the lamb on a spit. Once the clay oven is heated up, it can take the meat over 4 hours to cook! But man oh man, is it soft and tender... Just the smell alone is enough to torment everyone, let alone the fact that many have been deprived of meat for 40 days!
(Images courtesy of our twitter followers!)
Nothing goes to waste with the Greeks, the entire lamb is eaten; eyeballs, brains, tongues and all! The bones can be chucked to the dogs too... Greeks will eat like they have haven't eaten for months! The men will most likely have a plate of pure meat, forget the side dishes they just take up space. It's often a good idea to take a short break to allow your food to digest so you have space for more meat later on... and of course you will be having leftovers for the next few days as well.
Kalo pascha everyone, I hope you all had an amazing day and enjoyed your meat binge!
OK so last night after church and the soup, you may have had the EGG WAR! Sometimes this is done on Sunday mornings with your breakfast though...
Basically, you know all those dyed eggs that were made the other day? Well, now we get to break them! It's actually a lot of fun and of course is symbolic of life (everything us Greeks do is symbolic!) So everyone chooses an egg from the basket and people take it in turns to tap everyone else's. If yours doesn't break then you will have good luck for the year! Oh and watch out for cheeky yiayias who seem to know the trick of holding the egg in a perfect way that it's almost impossible to break...
Onto the feast.. ahh! Well the men were probably up from 6am this morning lighting up the garvourna and getting the lamb on a spit. Once the clay oven is heated up, it can take the meat over 4 hours to cook! But man oh man, is it soft and tender... Just the smell alone is enough to torment everyone, let alone the fact that many have been deprived of meat for 40 days!
(Images courtesy of our twitter followers!)
Kalo pascha everyone, I hope you all had an amazing day and enjoyed your meat binge!
Yeahey!
ReplyDeleteEggcellent!