Crack eggs, not traditions
GROWING up by the western calendar, many Australians are unaware of the cultural traditions honoured in their own backyard.
Followed by the Julian calendar, Orthodox Easter falls one week after the standard Easter celebrated this year but can be parted up to five weeks or may fall on the same date depending on the year.
Orthodox Easter is celebrated throughout many European, Middle Eastern and African countries – with each having their own traditions and beliefs.
Dubbo Greek Orthodox Church president, Con Raptis shared the importance of valuing historic traditions and immersing them in newer communities.
Mr Raptis confirmed that Easter is the largest celebratory event in Greece as the holiday spans over a week including multiple church visits, dietary requirements, egg decorating, traditional Greek Easter bread (Tsoureki) making, the
Epitaphios ornate and other traditions.
Mr Raptis told Dubbo Photo News that each tradition is specific and can only be done at certain times during the week to honour the religion and history.
On Saturday night, the church service will commence from 11pm-2am with the door inside opening at midnight indicating that Jesus has risen.
“This is very important because he brings light to us and our church,” he shared, saying people light their candles from the Priest and try to keep them alight for 40 days after the service.
Traditionally in Greece, hard boiled eggs are dyed red on Thursday or Saturday, however, with the immersion of new cultures, chocolate eggs and other dyes have been introduced over the generations.
He shared that the eggs are dyed red from an old tale of when Jesus walked from town to town, he continued saying “a man didn’t believe he was Jesus, so he asked him to turn a basket of eggs red to prove it – and he did”.
On Easter Sunday, the eggs are cracked against one another between two people as they exchange an Easter greeting.
The person who cracks the eggs of the other players is declared the winner and is said to have good luck during the year.
The church has been established by Greek Orthodox in 1962 with many generations celebrating throughout the years.
“It is something that is passed down for generations and we don’t want to forget it,” Mr Raptis continued, saying that over time, some traditions have been lost while new ones welcomed.
“We understand that it will happen one day, but we want to keep it alive for as long as possible,” he told Dubbo Photo News.
He compared the difference of the church members today with the early years, “Back then, there were hundreds of people attending the ceremonies because there were a lot of Greeks in Dubbo and people had a lot more children”.