Month: April 2015

Just before midnight on Easter Saturday, Nafplio’s main square fills with people. The bishop gives a blessing and declares that Christ is risen. Then the candlelight (which came to Nafplio from Jerusalem via Athens, as it does each Easter) is brought out and sparks a sea of flickering flames, as it spreads from candle to candle. At midnight, huge firecrackers make the square feel like some Middle East disaster before fireworks light up the sky. (Church facades in villages all over Greece are literally pockmarked with these celebratory Easter explosions.) Finally, everyone shares the traditional Easter kiss of love before heading home for a huge after-midnight feast. For weeks after Easter, Greeks will still be greeting each other with “Christ is risen!” (Christos Anesti!).

Filming little kids can be a wonderful experience. But for our crew, it’s never been quite as delightful as last week, when we shot a sequence with little Evalina with her godparents. Even with a strange film crew in the living room, she was perfectly at ease. And when we needed to repeat a scene, she did it exactly the same way.

In this video clip, you’ll see our guide Patty keeping the yelping dog quiet outside, while beautiful Evalina receives (for the third time) her Easter gift of a big chocolate egg and a candle. With this candle, she’ll join in the ritual lighting of candles at midnight as Easter Sunday arrives. The candles have nice little gifts attached — in this case, earrings.

Leaving their house, our hosts bid us Kali Anastasi — “Have a good Resurrection!”

Last week, I enjoyed filming Easter traditions in Greece for an upcoming public television special. Here are some of the vivid images that we captured.

By the way, many Americans are not traveling in Greece these days because of this country’s economic woes. I find this totally illogical. I’ve been here for a week, and let me tell you: The traveler is barely aware of the economic crisis. Rather, the main impressions I’ll take away from this trip are about the importance of health, family, friends, and embracing life.

In Greece, Easter eggs are dyed deep red, symbolizing the blood of Christ shed at the Crucifixion. You can buy packets of blood-red dye at any store. On Easter Sunday at the big family feast, loved ones will crack their eggs together. The person whose egg doesn’t crack enjoys good luck in the following year.

It’s a custom for godparents to have a little quality time with their godchildren at Easter. Why not decorate eggs? We filmed a delightful moment as this godmother lovingly helped her sweet godchild in the kitchen.

Even more than Western Christian churches, Greek Orthodox churches are slathered in symbolism. In our little Nafplio church, ostrich eggs hung from the chandeliers. Of course, eggs are a part of any Easter celebration — secular or religious. Easter is celebrated this time of year because it has pagan, pre-Christian, “end of winter, start of spring” roots.  This ostrich egg may be precious, but like any old egg, it symbolizes how, just as life comes from an egg, life also comes with the Resurrection of Christ.

In our script, we mention how Easter is likely designed to replace the pagan spring festival of the fertility goddess Eostra. And Eostra’s sidekick was a rabbit — a very fertile critter, and the reason why we still have the Easter Bunny today. Here in Greece, I didn’t see a bunny anywhere, until I spotted these two guys on our last day.

Celebrating Easter in Greece is an unforgettable experience. On Good Friday evening in Nafplio, it seems the entire town turns out for what is essentially a grand funeral procession. As pallbearers navigate the winding back lanes, flames flicker on faces, and grannies look down from balconies, you feel the centuries of tradition going strong. Candlelit choirs sing of how the Virgin Mary mourned (“Life is sweet, I’ve lost my son, my sorrow is too much to bear”).