Παρασκευή 24 Απριλίου 2009

THE BRENDA'S PHOTO CHALLENGE

The Brenda's photo challenge blog this week has a theme: ANYTHING METAL

I have some things to show you made by metal, old or new.
The bars of our stairs.


The bars of my balcony.



An old bed which belonged to my hubby's grandmother.


I love to collect old things.
A chair which belonged to my parents


and fit with this metal table.


Now we have these furnitures in our yard.
I hope you enjoyed my metal memories.

Δευτέρα 20 Απριλίου 2009

MY WORLD TUESDAY: SUNDAY OF EASTER (ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΣΧΑ)



ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ !!!

( Christos is risen)

This is a wish we say every day, when we see someone, from the Resurrection of Jesus till Whitsun (Pentikosti, Πεντηκοστή).
I promised to show you how is a Greek Orthodox Easter (Pascha).
Well, it begins with the Resurrection on Holy Saturday night.
Unfortunatly we couldn't stay till the end of the liturgy because the girls were very tired and very hungry.
We came home at 12:30 am.
After 15 minutes my sister's family and my parents arrived to celebrate all together the Resurrection at my home.
We made a cross at our front door with the Holy Light (this light comes from Jerousalim, from the Holy Grave of Jesus).
Then i put the Light in my oil lamp.



We keep the Holy Light on at least for fifty days till Pentikosti.
The table and the food were ready and our appetite, too.


We bumped our eggs, we said "Christos Anesti" and we started eating.



Our first meal with meat after forty eight days of fasting.
The first dish was a soup that we call "magiritsa" (μαγειρίτσα).
The original magiritsa is with the entrails of the lamb (liver, spleen, etc).
My father made the original recipe.
But the kids don't like the original version so i put the meat of the lamb's ribes (without bones and fat), rice, fresh onions, dill, olive oil, salt and pepper.
It's not the original but it's a great soup.


The second dish was lamb with potatoes in the oven.




Of course we had Greek salad, salami and cheese (Cretan graviera).
Our guests left at 2:30 am, I put the rest of the family to sleep and i did the cleaning.
I went to bed at 4:00 am.
I woke up at 8:00 am.
My hubby, my brother-in-law (my sister's hubby) and my father went down to the garden at 8:30 am to set the lamb on the spit and they started the spitting.



The impale lamb is a symbol of the Crucifixion.
Jesus, the Holy Lamb, crucified on the Cross and, when he died, the soldiers didn't break his arms and legs like they did with the two thieves. (See the icon of the Crucifixion in my previous post).
So we put the lamb on the spit without breaking its bones.
At 11:00 am it was the time for an award for the "grillers" (and for us, too).
A pre-lunch meal.
We had salad, ham, cheese, eggs, seftalies, sausages and kokoretsi.





From the morning till lunch (at 1:30 pm) a lot of people stopped by our home (to be exact by our garden) to say "Christos Anesti" and have a glass of wine and a snack.

My parents in law, my sister's parents in law, my hubby's brothers and a few more.

The weather was great and the kids made a few rides with their bikes.


Antonia loved to ride her father's motorcycle.


Of course we had a lot of dancing, too.

After all, dance is in our blood.

My father dances the best zeibekiko i've ever seen.

And Olga try to follow his footsteps.



Here is me, my mother in law, my mother and my sister.

And me and my sister dance hasapiko (for a video from our dance see Marina's blog http://marinaslifefamily.blogspot.com/ ).


We set the table for lunch at an open space under our homes, next to the garden.
At the festive table were my family, my sister's family and my parents.

We had for lunch, except the lamb, farm salad, Russian salad, Greek salad, green salad, fried potatoes, salami, cheese (feta and kaseri), eggs and toasted bread on the grill.




And for dessert we had chocolate mousse (made by me), cheesecake (made by my sister Marina) and giaourtopita (made by my mother in law).


We finished our lunch at 5:00 pm, we took a bath and the rest of the day we were trying to recover from the food and the weariness.

to see other places of our world.

Δευτέρα 13 Απριλίου 2009

MY WORLD TUESDAY: HOLY WEEK (ΜΕΓΑΛΗ ΕΒΔΟΜΑΔΑ)


This week, until next Sunday, it's a week of mourning and sorrow.
We call it "Great Week" or "Week of Suffering" and it's the last week of Great Lent and a week before Easter.
These days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations into the perspective of End. They remind us of the eschatological meaning of Pascha.
It begins from Palm Sunday (Κυριακή των Βα'ί'ων) and lasts till Great and Holy Saturday(Μεγάλο Σάββατο).
Palm Sunday: The entrance in the Holy City and announces the acceptance by the world of its only King, Jesus Christ.



Great and Holy Monday (Μ. Δευτέρα): On this day the Church commemorates the withering of the fruitless fig tree, a symbol of judgement that will befall those who do not bring forth the fruits of repentance.
The hymns on this day also recall Joseph, the son of Jacob, whose innocent suffering at the hand of his brethren, and false accusation are a type of the Passion of Jesus.


Great and Holy Tuesday (Μ. Τρίτη): On this day the Church commemorates the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The five of them were ready to accept Jesus but the other five weren't.
We must always be prepared for Jesus.


Great and Holy Wednesday (Μ. Τετάρτη): On this day the Church commemorates the sinful woman who washed Jesus's feet in the house of Simon.
We sing the Hymn of Kassiani the Nun (the previous night).


Great and Holy Thursday (Μ. Πέμπτη): On this day the Church commemorates The Last Supper after Jesus washed Apostles feet, the prayer in the Garden of Getsemani (Γεσθημανή), the betrayal of Judas and Jesus's trial.



Great and Holy Friday (Μ. Παρασκευή) : On this day the Church commemorates the Crucifixion and the Burial of Jesus.
The women decorate with flowers the epitaph (Επιτάφιος), which symbolize Jesus's grave.
The hymns of this day are mournful and the fast very strict.
We don't cook, we don't set the table for lunch or dinner and we don't eat oil or drink wine.


Great and Holy Saturday (Μ. Σάββατο): On this day the Church commemorates the descent to Hades and Jesus's Resurrection.
Death is Overcome by Life and we understand why God desires that death, why the Father gives His Only Begotten Son to it. He desires the salvation of man. Hence the necessity of the Incarnation and the necessity of that Divine death. Death was not only destroyed by God, but was overcome and trampled down in human nature itself by man and through man.
At noon we celebrate The First Resurrection (Πρώτη Ανάσταση).
Some minutes before midnight, we recieve the Eternal Flame from our priest and we pass it to others. It's the Holy Light (Άγιο Φως), the Light of Love.
At Midnight we all sing "Χριστός Ανέστη" ( Christ is risen) , we kiss each other and we bump red eggs.
The liturgy ends two hours later.


During the Holy Week, the Godparents go to their godchildren with new shoes or clothes, a taper (λαμπάδα) and a bun (τσουρέκι).



It's a tradition to make buns, Easter cookies (πασχαλινά κουλούρια) and to paint eggs in red colour, the colour of Jesus's blood.








Happy Easter to all the Greek Orthodox and i wish good health, happiness and prosperity to all mankind.


Visit http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/
to see other places of our world.


Σάββατο 11 Απριλίου 2009

THE BRENDA'S PHOTO CHALLENGE

This time the Brenda's Photo Challenge blog has theme: "What's your favorite color".
I don't have only one favorite colour.
Every colour has a very special place in my life.
I love the blue and the white because of our flag, the sky and the sea.




I love the brown and the green, the colours of the nature and the colours of my beloved persons' eyes .




I love the colours of the rainbow.


I love all the colours of the flowers.





And i love the red because is the colour of Easter (from Jesus's blood who suffered for our salvation).