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Easter Holy Week
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When:
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25 - 28 Apr 2008 (annual)
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Where:
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Greece
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Easter is the most important religious festival of the year in Greece, so there are plenty of colourful celebrations.
For 40 days before Easter, Lenten fasts mean that meat, poultry, fish and dairy products are avoided on certain days. People make up for this on Easter Sunday with a feast of spit-roasted lamb, tsoureki (sweet bread loaves) and flaounes (Easter cakes). Eggs also feature, coloured red to represent Christ's blood.
On Good Friday there are church services and parades, then a mass on the Saturday night. At midnight the lights are extinguished, a candle passed around the church and the congregation greet each other with the words "Christ is Risen".
Greek Orthodox Easter does not always fall on the same Sunday as the Catholic and Protestant festival as it is calculated using a different calendar.
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