Easter is a huge holiday in Greece, bigger than Christmas we are told. We witnessed much pre-Easter celebration in Crete with colorful eggs baked into woven loaves of bread (representing the baby Jesus we were told) and many church celebrations taking place on Good Friday, then in Athens we walked by giant crowds of people gathered outside of the Greek Orthodox churches with lit candles, listening to the chants and prayers of the priests over loud speakers. We returned to London late in the afternoon on the day before Easter, and the woman at the Easy Jet ticket desk in Athens asked in great surprise “Are you sure you want to leave before the Easter celebrations?” She told us of the grand celebrations that happen on Easter, beginning at midnight, that included fireworks, food, parties, and the traditional of cracking the hard-boiled egg game. Each person holds a hard boiled egg with the more pointed side aimed at one another. The top person slams the egg down on the other person’s egg (who is supposed to just hold the egg firmly)- one egg breaks and the person with the egg that does not crack is the recipient of good luck. Upon losing the first battle of the egg, Jubie disputed the outcome (she couldn’t believe that it could be random). Alas, a second and third round revealed that no matter who or how the egg was held there was no way to predict the outcome.
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