For the majority, Easter Sunday was on the 27th March 2016.
You are probably thinking that’s weird, what do I mean for the majority?
Well there is two Easters! Your now probably thinking, how can there be two Easters?
The common religion for Greek Cypriots is Christian/Greek Orthodox which means we celebrate Easter on a different day. Weird right? I think it’s so weird and annoying.
Occasionally our Easter will fall on the same day. The majority of times it doesn’t. Greek Easter this year was on this bank holiday weekend, the 1st May.
The dates are different because they are based on the ancient Julian calendar. “Although most of the world now follows the Gregorian calendar, the Eastern Orthodox Church still uses the earlier Julian calendar for calculating the dates of festivals such as Easter that are not fixed” (Bentley, 2016).
I’m a believer of God however I don’t really go to church as much as I should but I always make sure I pray at home. At Easter I always go to church, however this year being at university and having many assessments around the time period, I missed out. I was gutted and still am. Greek Easter is thoroughly enjoyable and it’s so nice being around friends and family. At Church you always see so many familiar faces and everyone is so happy. Everyone always dresses up in their best clothes because they know the whole Greek community is going to be at church! Young and old. There are always those few people who are secretly judging you, to see if your outfit is nice enough!
I am disappointed that I missed out on all my family being together and having that quality time with one another! I missed out on my Yiayias cooking! Greek cakes, eggs and the dinner! Greek Easter is a huge celebration for the Greek community and some say that it is on par with Christmas.
Bentley, D. (2016). When is Greek Easter in 2016? Why is it different and everything you need to know. [online] birminghammail. Available at: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/greek-easter-2016-different-everything-9002486 [Accessed 3 May 2016].
YouTube. (2016). What Happens On Greek Easter. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtLquZ6akpo [Accessed 3 May 2016].