Easter in Cyprus

Neochorio's Easter decorations

Several years ago, Minas and I were fortunate enough to be in Trapani, Sicily, for Easter, where we witnessed a particularly moving celebration of the season in the twenty-four hour “Li Misteri” procession. Knowing that the Greek Orthodox faith is renowned for pageantry and drama, we were looking forward to spending Easter in Cyprus.  Through his research Minas had found a small village, NeoChorio, the most westerly village on the island, which was reputed to celebrate Easter in a traditional way. Unfortunately, the kind of celebrations we found there were no match for those of Sicily. The more secular festivities took prime place and I should have known this when we entered the village and found several large chicken, bunny and egg displays.

the floral-bedecked canopy

We did go to church on Good Friday evening, where the tradition is to give everyone a flower. The place was standing room only and the three hour service seemed a little chaotic to us. Toward the end of the third hour, everyone followed the priest out of the church and stood in the platia. I was the last to get out as I was following the old yayas and their Philippino care-givers. I got a little annoyed at the priest who spoke to one old lady to try to hurry her down the steps. Then, without warning, he led the entire massed congregation back into the church, squeezing me between the old yaya and the entering masses. Why couldn’t he have waited just a minute more? At that point, because Minas had experienced a similar story where he had prevented an old lady from being pushed to the ground, we decided to go home.  The part of the service that we missed was the tossing of the flowers on the icon of Jesus under the flower-bedecked canopy in front of the altar to signify His burial.

The following night, Saturday, the service started at ten and culminated after midnight with an enormous bonfire lit just outside the church.  As the village was experiencing a rainy thunderstorm, we gave that one a miss. On Easter Sunday, the service was held in the morning and white candles were handed out. Except for the bonfire, these Easter traditions could have taken place in any of our churches.

a whole lamb turns on a spit in a backyard

But the family celebrations we witnessed throughout the village were heartwarming. On the Friday and Saturday, there was much preparation: cleaning of houses and cars, planting and hanging of flower baskets, sweeping of patios and setting up outside table areas. Many orthodox people still give up meat for Lent – quite a feat as meat seems to be the basis of the Cypriot diet. So after forty days of abstinence, Easter Sunday is a huge meat fest. Everyone here has outdoor ovens and brick barbecues and we saw many whole lambs turning on spits throughout the day as well as numerous skewers of souvlaki.

red eggs for Easter

One Easter custom we came to like was the eating of traditional Easter bread called flahouna. This seems to be a pastry crust dotted with a soft cheese and then filled with a cornmeal cake mixture with raisins and sometimes, oddly, with herbs.  It is an interesting combination of savoury and sweet and is best eaten warm. The commercial variety is no match for the home-made offerings we received from our hosts in several small hotels. We also noted the custom of dying eggs red for Easter Sunday. The first of these were given to us by the restaurant where we had our Sunday lunch. Two people are supposed to hold one egg each and hit them against each other. Invariably one breaks and the other does not.  If yours is the one that remains intact, it means you will have good luck all year long. Do I have to tell you that on both occasions, Minas triumphed with the egg left intact? When we visited the Paphos Byzantine Museum, five days after Easter, the old gent there packed up 6 red eggs and pressed them upon us as we left, saying, “Fresh….. very fresh.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that we were staying in a hotel and wouldn’t be able to use them. I hope the maid who cleaned the room found a way to put them to use.

souvlaki at the village party

banana cordial for you?

On the Sunday and Monday evenings of Easter week-end, the village of Neochorio has a huge gathering on the local school property where tents, chairs and tables, a bandstand and a dance floor are set up. There are many booths of food and drink and a good time seems to be had by all. Visitors are first greeted by young girls in folk costume offering traditional rose or banana cordial and Turkish, or should I more correctly say, Cypriot, delight. Flahouna is also on offer. There are various games, such as sack races and egg on spoon races, for the children and then the rest of the evening, until the wee hours of the morning, seems to be taken up with eating, drinking and generally having a very good time.  A necessary part of the good time seems to depend on loud fire-crackers being lit at very frequent intervals.

We did not last that long, but I did think about how people are shaped by the customs they grow up with, and how it is important to retain them when one immigrates to another country.  

Is this the Judas tree?

As we wandered back to our hotel, we passed under several trees with passionately purple flowers and perfectly heart shaped leaves. I wondered what they were and I half hoped this was the “Judas tree” – so appropriate to be in flower in Cyprus at Easter-time.