Greek Easter in times of Corona

On 01 May 2021
In Blog
By Katerina Sakelliou
2 Comments

A few years ago my friends and I were making plans for them to return to Poros. I suggested they come for the Greek Easter celebration in 2021. I explained that I thought it would be the nicest Easter ever, because it would be late in the season (May 2nd) and therefore almost Summer, so we could dance and have fun on our olive farm. In Greece Easter is more important than Christmas, and the biggest celebration of the year. We Greeks actually look forward to all celebrations, and strong traditions that we love to repeat every year.

Greek Easter at home

Then Covid-19 happened. In 2020 for the first time in our lives, we had to celebrate Greek Easter in our homes. Everything was closed; all tavernas, restaurants, cafés, and even at home we were with very few people. Unfortunately, a year later the situation has not changed. There will again be no visitors on Poros, since Greece will only open up for tourism after the 14th of May. Of course, we will follow all the Easter traditions that we have our entire lives; nothing is going to stop us from making the Koulourakia, dye our eggs red and have our lamb on the spit. We will bake the Tsourekia and drink our wine, but we will miss all our friends terribly.

Easter traditions we will miss

Easter revolves not only about food, but also around the church visits, the nightly procession with the candle lights in the streets of Poros, and the presents we give each other; Meeting our friends and relatives whom we were not able to see for a long time; the fun we have together during our parties, all kinds of jokes, the ouzo and the mezes by the seaside. All of them together mark the beginning of the Summer and the season when we receive our guests.

Greek Easter 2022

Our last big Easter celebration was on our olive farm in 2019. We hosted 50 friends from all around the world who were celebrating with us. There was live Greek music, dancing on the menu and perfect sunny weather and we all enjoyed our time together. All this heart-warming, feel good, “feel-Greek” happenings and events we will again miss dearly this year. Let’s hope that this will be the last Easter we ever spend like this. I invite you my friends to Easter 2022 on Poros; April the 25th, when I hope we will dance, eat and celebrate like we used to. In the meantime, let’s enjoy what we have, be safe and stay healthy, and now look back for a moment to Greek Easters in happier times.