Letters from Cyprus: Orthodox Easter in Cyprus

Easter was celebrated late in Cyprus this year, due to the difference between eastern and western church calendars, which varies from year to year. Easter in the most significant holiday in the Orthodox Church, and the occasion is marked by a range of traditions and practices during the weeks leading up to Easter, and then during the Easter period itself.

Lent is widely practiced in the 40 days leading up to Easter. On Palm Sunday before Easter, seaside fishermen sit and plait 'vaynes' or palm leaf holders, which when finished look like small swallows nests on sticks. Fishermen sell these and young children fill them with flowers and take them to church on Palm Sunday when they follow an icon of Christ around the church in a procession commemorating Christ's entry into Jerusalem. During 'holy week' prior to Easter, there are church services during the morning, afternoon and evening. On Thursday most households do their Easter baking of 'flaounes', a kind a cheese cake found in Cyprus.

Flaounes at Easter in Cyprus

Epitafios procession in Nicosia old town

Good Friday begins with everyone taking flowers to church so that young girls can decorate the 'Epitafios', which is a four posted structure, which symbolises the tomb of Christ. The whole structure is decorated with flowers, and then on the evening of Good Friday, processions take place all around Cyprus with the Epitafios for each church being carried through the streets, followed by hundreds of people singing hymns and also passing beneath it. Fireworks are often lit from nearby balconies while the procession passes, and it then finishes up back at the church again. Also on Easter Friday, all the icons at the front of each church are covered in a black shroud.

Church bonfires on Saturday night

On Easter Saturday, there is a sermon in each church around lunchtime during which church doors, chairs and candleholders are shaken, when the news is announced that Christ is no longer in his grave. The real sermon of resurrection takes place at midnight, when thousands of people go to church with a candle to receive the 'holy fire' (which actually originates each year from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and is distributed across the orthodox world on specially chartered aircraft). When the priest announces that Christ has risen, all candles are lit and everyone says the greeting 'Christos anesti' (Christ is risen), to which the other person responds 'Alithos anesti' (He is risen indeed). Fireworks are lit and huge bonfires are lit in the church yards. On Easter Sunday morning this year, you could still see many of these fires still burning across Nicosia.

Then on Sunday morning, flaounes are eaten and Lenten fasts are broken. Picnics are family gatherings then take place all over Cyprus, with the main meal usually being a lamb cooked on a spit. In many villages it is also the custom on Easter Sunday and Monday for everyone to have lunch in the church yard. Each family brings food and wine, and whole villages share a meal together.

There is a richness of tradition and community connection around the various Easter activities in Cyprus that I think is sometimes lacking in western contexts, and we enjoyed being a part of the reflection and celebrations this year.