Great Friday
This morning all the shops are closed and church services are held. The nation is in mourning. The bells toll out for Christ who died on the cross this day. In church you light candles, and are given a symbolic sticker to wear on your jackets. These are also given on The Name Day of the Church.
The Epitaphion ( a wooden replica of a tomb) covered in beautiful flowers, with the icon of Christ rests inside, with an elaborate embroided cloth over it, in the centre of the church.
In the evening the Epitaphion is carried through the streets followed by members of the church carrying white candles that are lit. It is called 'The Procession of the Epitaphios of Christ'. An unearthly quiet descends on the town/village as music is turned off, and people are hushed into a silence as it passes. There are no celebrations of any kind allowed today, it is a funeral.
For towns such as Kos Town all the churches (four) in the area eventually come together with Epitaphions and meet in the town centre, The Square.
Later when the Epitaphion comes back to the church the men hold it high in front of the doors for people to pass underneath, for blessing. Candles are then blown out to symbolise death.
Today I visited all of the churches that my children were baptised in, two of the main churches in the town, Agia Paraskevi and Agios Nicholas. We later went up to the small village in the mountains to The Church Panagias in Lagoudi. They allowed me to photograph the Epitaphios, and my children crawled underneath, and out the back, to be blessed and to give them good luck.
My children wanted to check in on the kittens, they are much cleaner today and still all breathing!!! The mother was a little camera shy and ran off, to return a little while later to protect them.
This morning all the shops are closed and church services are held. The nation is in mourning. The bells toll out for Christ who died on the cross this day. In church you light candles, and are given a symbolic sticker to wear on your jackets. These are also given on The Name Day of the Church.
The Epitaphion ( a wooden replica of a tomb) covered in beautiful flowers, with the icon of Christ rests inside, with an elaborate embroided cloth over it, in the centre of the church.
In the evening the Epitaphion is carried through the streets followed by members of the church carrying white candles that are lit. It is called 'The Procession of the Epitaphios of Christ'. An unearthly quiet descends on the town/village as music is turned off, and people are hushed into a silence as it passes. There are no celebrations of any kind allowed today, it is a funeral.
For towns such as Kos Town all the churches (four) in the area eventually come together with Epitaphions and meet in the town centre, The Square.
Later when the Epitaphion comes back to the church the men hold it high in front of the doors for people to pass underneath, for blessing. Candles are then blown out to symbolise death.
Today I visited all of the churches that my children were baptised in, two of the main churches in the town, Agia Paraskevi and Agios Nicholas. We later went up to the small village in the mountains to The Church Panagias in Lagoudi. They allowed me to photograph the Epitaphios, and my children crawled underneath, and out the back, to be blessed and to give them good luck.
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On a non-religious note...
My children wanted to check in on the kittens, they are much cleaner today and still all breathing!!! The mother was a little camera shy and ran off, to return a little while later to protect them.
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