Rick Steves’ Travel Blog

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”).

Here are a few more photos from my recent TV shoot in Greece — one of several countries included in my upcoming Rick Steves’ European Easter public television special.

The Easter greeting here in Greece, “Kalo Pascha,” literally means “good passing” — a passing from sadness (the Crucifixion) to happiness (the Resurrection). I was told, “It mixes together, like births come with pain.”

Most of these photos were snapped in the middle of the night, as Good Friday was just starting. On Good Friday, the faithful fill the church as if attending a funeral. You’ll notice lots and lots of flowers. As flowers are an important part of any Greek burial (they’re tossed into the grave with the dirt), the priest scatters flowers upon the symbolic tomb of Christ. He then ritualistically showers the entire congregation with flowers. (Tracking the priest with our cameraman, I found myself in an April shower of petals, and folded my hands prayerfully. Later I saw that the more appropriate response was to just have fun and enjoy the moment.)

Be sure to click on each image below to learn more about Good Friday rituals in the Greek Orthodox faith.

On Maundy Thursday, Jesus and his apostles have their last peaceful moments together at the Last Supper. Many Greek Orthodox hardly sleep that night, as the crucifix is decorated with flowers.

On Good Friday morning, a service is held as the priest removes Christ from the cross. When it passes behind the iconostasis, the figure is replaced with a shroud bearing the image of Jesus. This is paraded through the church on its way to a symbolic burial. These boys with candles lead the way.

After the shroud is placed in the ceremonial tomb (or epitaph), people line up to kiss it.

With huge emotion and commotion, the epitaph is carried out of the church and into the city…and the Good Friday procession begins.

It seemed the entire city was out, young and old, walking with the epitaph. Choirs sang, and old-timers looked on from balconies — their candles lit in worshipful solidarity. It was a timeless experience.

Three churches all paraded their respective epitaphs through Nafplio. All of the processions met on the main square, where the bishop (who happened to have the longest, whitest beard of all) gave a blessing. People then dispersed to await the Resurrection.

In the Greek Orthodox tradition, the events of Good Friday begin late Thursday night, and proceed step by step with elaborate rituals and incense-filled services. This clip captures the intensity.

On Good Friday morning, a service is held during which the priest removes Christ from the cross. Christ is covered in a shroud and carried through the congregation. Disappearing behind the iconostasis, the body re-emerges as an image on a shroud. The priest carries the shroud to be placed in a flower-bedecked tomb. As flowers are a big part of any Greek burial, the priest strews flowers upon Christ, and then showers petals on all gathered. In this clip, notice the empty cross and the flower-covered tomb awaiting the arrival of Jesus’ shroud.

Our Easter special for public television is in the can. We finished shooting on Eastern Orthodox Easter — which was this past Sunday — in Nafplio, Greece.

For our filming, we were blessed to find the friendliest Greek Orthodox priest, Father Dionysis, running the town’s amazing little Church of Panagia (Mary Above All Saints). Our first day was spent scouting, making connections, and getting the religious rituals sorted out.

A fun part of my work is to give another culture meaning so it becomes less foreign to an American visitor. Without a little context, Greek Orthodox ritual, music, and worship can look like ZZ Top at a séance. But, as with most things, once you understand it, you can see the beauty in it.

I like to ask Orthodox priests why they wear long beards. Father Dionysis said, “Orthodox priests wear long beards as a sign of wisdom, experience, and respect.” (In Bosnia’s Republika Srpska a few years ago, when I asked a long-bearded priest, he joked, “It’s to frighten Americans.”)

I think Eastern Orthodox Christianity seems foreign to many Western sensibilities because we in the West strive to be more cerebral. In the East, people allow the brain to take a back seat to the soul, heart, and emotions. Father Dionysis explained that Orthodoxy is not an ideology, but a feeling. He told me, “You look at the sky with eyes of the earth. An Orthodox Christian looks at the earth with eyes of the sky.”

As we left, he bid us goodbye saying (in his tiny English), “Forever happy.”

Some Orthodox Christians refer to non-Orthodox as “those who have yet to enjoy the incense.” Father Dionysis explained that every aroma comes with its own philosophy. Sorting through his various incense powders, he explained that during the service on Holy Saturday (after the Crucifixion but before the Resurrection), a change in the aroma would usher in the transition from Crucifixion sorrow to Resurrection joy. After all, worship is for all the senses. The entire body participates.

Trying to illustrate how each aroma elicits a distinct emotional impact, Father Dionysis asked us to inhale one that was “the Passion and the Resurrection.” In this shot, our local guide, Patty, gets a whiff of something smoky — “of fire, symbolizing the heart in flames so the prayer has a special warmth.”