Easter Saturday is always a long day but a good one. There is a long morning church service (maybe 4 hours - I usually come in for the last 2) culminating in a general 'breakfast' of wine and bread. Then the home preparation - cooking, cleaning and decorating the house, colouring eggs, etc. The night service begins at 11pm. Many people come for the midnight greeting of Christ's resurrection. We have a procession around the church, holding candles and singing, then back into the church for the rest of the service. We got back at 3.30 am and broke the fast by eating blessed egg, kulich and cheese pascha. This year my husband was sent to serve in Tasmania, and was supposed to come back for the family lunch but his plane has been cancelled so we won't see him until this evening. Easter (or Pascha) is the most joyous of feasts, and Russians greet each other with 'Christos Voskresye' - Christ is risen. Christos Anesti in Greek, and Al Masim Qam (in Arabic; not sure of the spelling). The response is 'Voyistinu Voskresye' (Truly He is risen).
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Christos Voskresye Tania, Thank you for your interesting description of the Russian celebration of Easter - similar in many ways to the Greek traditions.You sound like you had a marvellous but very energy consuming day.That's a shame your husband wasn't with the family today. Is he an Orthodox priest? We had a very family centred day with lots of phonecalls to my husband's relatives in Greece.
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ReplyDeleteThat last post was from me - I'm sorry, I just realised I hadn't signed out of my son, Michael's google account. I'm using the family computer, not my laptop. That explains that mysterious "Michael" comment I sent you once before! Silly me!
Alithos Anesti, Pam! Hope your Easter was good. We finally came together at our place 5pm. It was a good day with a little drama. Yes, my husband is an Orthodox priest.
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