Easter: On Cultures and Customs
By: Isabella Karmis
Growing up in an international and multicultural family, I learned at a young age the importance and beauty of learning about other countries and their customs. I study International Relations and Film Studies and moved to Scotland because I viewed that as an opportunity to learn in a new environment surrounded by people from different backgrounds, and because it afforded me the chance to travel across the UK and Europe easily to immerse myself in my own and other histories and cultures. Yet, something that I had not realised until this term was that travelling to new places also afforded me the chance to learn about my own customs through the lens of another culture. I had the opportunity to travel to Malta for the first time and to return to my family town in Greece, where both afforded me the chance to experience the spectrum in which Easter is celebrated.
Growing up in the United States, my idea of Fat Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday (in Christianity, the day before Ash Wednesday/the beginning of Lent–so the idea is to indulge in what you are giving up for Lent before fasting) was centred on the celebration of Mardi Gras with King cake, beads, and masks. Over the February holiday, my friends and I travelled to Malta, and upon walking into Valletta right off the plane, we found ourselves immersed in a carnival filled with children in costumes, massive floats depicting characters like Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang, rave music, street food, adults dressed in costumes and traditional dancing, and more. I would be remiss to say that I was not utterly confused from my lack of sleep by what my friends and I had stumbled into, but we quickly realised it was the Maltese celebrations leading to Lent. My favourite part was seeing so many people come together through costume, dance, and music to celebrate something they all share, and it reminded me that one of the most crucial aspects of religion is love for those around you–I felt the Maltese carnival was the embodiment of just that. Seeing the community and culture come alive in a way that was new to me felt amazing and refreshing, and it was what first taught me that there is so much to learn about our own customs through other cultural interpretations.
Some of my earliest memories are from hearing on the landline how my Yia Yia and Papou (grandparents in Greek) annually departed from the United States back to our town in Greece, Nafplio, for the summer, but most importantly, for Greek Easter. Living so far and in school, I had not had the chance to go to Nafplio specifically for Easter until this year. Again, returning to Nafplio allowed me to learn more about my own religious culture through another context, but also more about my own history and culture in general. In the United States, there are normally only two Easter services: a midnight mass and one on Easter Sunday, but in Nafplio, there were several events that demonstrated the love and faith that connect the town. On Good Friday, we entered the Church to pray and pay our respects to icons of Mary and Christ, and then watched the Epitaphios, the procession of Christ’s symbolic coffin decorated with flowers, move throughout Nafplio, followed by the town's choir. Saturday is a solemn, fasting day in observance of Christ’s death, with the Easter service beginning that night. Right before the service, people enter the church to collect a candle, with most of the town standing in the platia (town square in Greek) waiting for the priest to emerge from the small service to give a homily. During this homily, people light one another’s candles, and Easter officially begins once the priest says ‘Christos Anesti’ (Christ has Risen). Right after, fireworks immediately go off from people within the platia in celebration, and families rush home to eat their Easter feasts, but not before drawing a cross from the ash on their candle above the door to their home. And of course, the red eggs on Easter! Experiencing Easter in Nafplio further reinforced the family and community values I had learned from my culture and from spending much prior time in Greece, but experiencing these values through a religious context was deeply enriching. I truly was so grateful for the chance to not only return to a place I call home with people I love, but also to learn more about my culture and the religious customs my Papou and Papa grew up with in Greece.
My trips to Matla and Greece, one by chance during Lent and one intentionally for Easter, taught me more about the customs, history, and community that surrounds cultural religion than I ever could have learned from celebrating in the place I had grown accustomed to. I’m deeply grateful for this opportunity, and I will carry the desire to continue learning, travelling, and immersing myself in both my own and new cultures into my education and adventures. If you think you know something about yourself, travelling might reframe that for you, just as it did my concept of religion.
Cover image depicts celebratory processions in Nafplio, Greece, on Good Friday. Image courtesy of https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/tag/nafplio/page/2/.