An Eastern Orthodox Easter

We arrived in Crete completely exhausted. We had the whole 'how do we get to the ferry!?' debacle which hardly worked out, followed by a string of buses and insanely expensive taxi rides. This place is easily the most remote place we've been to, and hands down the hardest to reach. Hours and hours through mountains, valleys of wildflowers, and an ocean of blues. When all was said and done the risk was worth the reward. We're staying in Plakias, a small town in the most Southwestern part of the Crete. All of the books that I've been reading said to expect 'Crete's wildflowers to be in full bloom' and they absolutely are. We got out of the cab and I thought my day's mood would be set in stone from what the guy charged, but it was impossible to stay anything but happy. How can you be mad when the only thing you can smell is flowers?!






When we arrived at our hostel we realized it was a villa with series of bungalos. The whole concept is like nothing we've ever stayed in before. I was so tired I wanted to skip all the introductory shenanigans, but of course they weren't to be avoided. The owner spoke very slowly, and strung each sentence with such a range of intonation, it really sounded as though he was preforming something, or at the very least trying his best to recite a poem to us. He told us that Easter is absolutely the most sacred holiday in all of Greece and that the Grecians take it quite seriously (all of this was said in the gravest manner). He then let us know that we could participate in the town's festivities and the celebration would be held in that church- as he pointed to the top of the mountain. It sounded fascinating, and I knew we had to do it, but the actual celebration didn't start until midnight. Some other girls our age decided they were up for the challenge and we all decided to head up together. We climbed this hill that felt more like a mountain and by the time we were at the top I was dizzy with exhaustion.Part of me wondered how bad I wanted to experience an Eastern Orthodox Easter, but luckily we kept persisting.




At the top, we immediately heard the church bells. The whole town was in a space the size of a classroom. Everyone was dressed in their Easter best which is notably different than ours. The colors are very subdued, and you'd be more likely to eat your weight in chocolate than hear something about an Easter Bunny. Everyone circled through the church momentarily listening to the sermon, and continuing on to buy a candle. This all went on until midnight when the priest came outside and announced 'Christ has risen' in Greek. He then placed his candle into the crowd, and everyone lit their candle's off the priest's first original light. It was quite surreal to be able to experience the Greek's sacred Easter, have a candle of my own, and truly be smack dab in the middle of it all.

After the last word left the priest's lips the LOUDEST, most irritating fireworks started going off everywhere. Most men/boys in the plaza had them and were throwing them into the air. There was nothing but noise which left you wanting to scowl at the person who lit one off within an arm's reach of your ear until you remember that's exactly what they're suppose to do. While all of this was going on, the ceremonial bonfire of Judas was occurring. It was a massive bonfire with a cross, wayyy too close to the church. Legend has it if your candle can make it home still lit that you'll have good luck for the year. Considering we had a two mile 90 degree angle walk down to our hotel I wasn't expecting much. It blew out before we stepped out of the church area.






Oh well, for this occasion we made our own luck. We're here, aren't we?