What a great experience Easter has been so far. On Saturday evening a bonfire was lit behind the church with an effigy of Judas top centre. Now this wasn’t your ordinary everyday normal toast your marshmallows kind of bonfire – this was a ‘make sure all the other villages on the island can see’ kind of bonfire. I was really sorry that I didn’t bring my camera. Besides being at least ten times the size of a huge bonfire, you had to move several meters back every few minutes so you wouldn’t melt. And Judas was toast in minutes. Unfortunately, firecrackers were extremely popular and went from shockingly loud to painfully loud; I could have done without that. Next on the agenda was the church service, which funny enough was in Greek (and chanted too). Then Papas Savvas (the priest) lit the people’s candles in the front, and the flame was passed around to everyone else. That is when you had to say ‘Christos Anesti’ and/or respond ‘Alithos Anesti’ (Christ is risen – Truly he has risen). I am sure the whole village was there. People finally started to disperse around 12:30, so I was home by 1am.
On Sunday, the games began at 7pm in the village square. My friend Linda (from Kouklia) and I had a kebab at the local Taverna with some other friends from my Greek class, and watched the proceedings. They had the usual egg and spoon races, sack races, tug of war and ‘board races’ where a child stands directly behind another and they strap their left feet to a 2’ - 2x4 and their right feet to another. Several of the Cypriot adults participated as well (although there was some good-humoured cheating done by them). It was great fun. Then the entertainment started. First the younger children did a couple of traditional dances, then an older group. These were followed by some teenage boys doing a ‘break dance’. When this was printed in the leaflet that was delivered to all residents (and a valiant attempt was made at translating), I was very skeptical. I am sure glad I was able to watch. These boys were amazing. It was so well choreographed – it must have taken months of practise. And the four older boys (15 – 18) gave the two younger ones (6 – 9) high-fives whenever they performed. I was so impressed by their energy and enthusiasm (actually I was exhausted just watching). What a delightful experience. Two girls followed this performance with some hip-hop (again very well choreographed) then a large group of older youths did several traditional dances, some of which had stories attached. When they were done, they came out into the crowd and invited us all to dance. Very welcoming and fun.
More to follow . . .
Love,
Laurel
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