Top Destinations for Easter Holidays
Easter is around the corner and the Greeks and Cypriots all around the world are vigorously preparing to welcome and celebrate the resurrection of Christ. As you all well know, both Cypriots and Greeks are deeply religious people and Easter is perhaps the most important time of the year together with Christmas. Those looking to take an Easter holiday, shouldn’t think twice before jetting off to Cyprus or one of the Greek islands, where Easter is an experience like no other, filled with festivities, local traditions and customs!
Let’s look at the top Greek and Cyprus Louis Hotels destinations you can experience an unforgettable Easter holiday.
Corfu is one of the best destinations to experience a traditional Easter holiday. One of the most unique traditions in Corfu is pot throwing. Every Easter Saturday the streets of Corfu overflow with joyful music as the island’s Philharmonic brass band plays to celebrate the first resurrection of Christ. The sound of ‘Christos Anesti’ (Christ has risen), the lyrical music and the scented smell of flowers overflow the island in joy and bliss! At 11 o’clock sharp, the real party begins without a minute of delay! The pot throwing show begins while all locals find themselves on their balconies and near their windows throwing huge ceramic pots! Beware, as although it’s an amazing custom to watch up-close-and-personal it is quite dangerous! All these pots fly out the balconies and windows, landing into pieces on the ground below! The pot throwing tradition has many symbolisms. One of them is that it symbolises the start of spring while another version narrates that the locals get rid of the past to give room for the new.
Cyprus is one of the top Easter destinations for those looking to experience a different Easter holiday, filled with customs, traditions and folklore games. Besides being religious, Cypriots are extremely traditional and take pride in maintaining ancient customs starting from Easter egg dying to Flaouna baking. Cypriots dye their Easter eggs red and place them in a basket that decorates the Easter table. The red colour symbolises the red blood of Christ. After the resurrection, family members gather and each picks their Easter egg, making sure they have chosen the hardest. They then play a tapping game, hitting each other’s eggs. The one which survives and remains intact-is the WINNER! What’s the prize? Luck for the rest of the year! Another yummy Cypriot tradition is flaouna (Cyprus Easter Cheese Pie) baking. During the week leading to Easter Sunday, grannies traditionally take over the kitchen to bake flaounes. Flaounes is a square-shaped cheese pie garnished with mint and raisins. If you haven’t tried this speciality, it is worth flying all the way to Cyprus just to take freshly baked flaounes!
Crete is the most traditional island in Greece, thus, it is one of the top destinations to visit during Easter. One of the most unique Easter traditions is on Easter Saturday when children throughout Crete eagerly anticipate in the events that take place on Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday is the day children get to make Judas models in order to burn them up. As you already know, Judas was the disciple who betrayed Christ, so the mischievous Cretans burn him up right after Christ resurrects on Saturday night. They all patiently wait to hear the first, ‘Christos Anesti’ and rush to light their models in flames! The entire island illuminates, and it is definitely a sight for sore eyes!
Where are you jetting off to this Easter?