For the Greek Orthodox, Easter is the most dramatic and most intensely felt of all church observances. By contrast, in the Latin church of the West, Christmas has assumed precedence. And in the United States, where commercialization has secularized religious holidays in general, the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year's triumvirate of occasions for eating and merrymaking has placed enormous strains on the Greek-American community's efforts to maintain its spiritual and cultural identity. This is particularly true among second-and third-generation immigrants, who no longer consistently "eat Greek" and who may have intermarried with other faiths.
Easter falls on April 23 for Greek-Americans this year, since the Greek Church reckons time by the old Julian calendar established in 46 B.C. New Year's falls on March 1 according to that calendar. Greek-Americans thus find themselves out of step with the official observance in this country. Furthermore, the Greek Orthodox consider it important for Holy Week to coincide with the Jewish Passover, since Christ went to Jerusalem for the Passover and his last supper was indeed a seder.
Greek Easter foods, however, reflect less this Passover connection than an association with customs and preferences peculiar to Greece itself. In fact, Greek Easter cookery is perhaps one of the most elaborate and symbolic--and ancient--seasonal cuisines of all the Christian ethnic groups in this country. The differences between practices in Greece and America add further detail to an already intricate picture.
It is also useful to keep in mind that the Greek Orthodox Easter falls at the same time of the year as the old pre-Christian Eleusinian festival, or "mysteries," which marked the reawakening of the earth from its winter sleep. The mystae, or communicants, of these ancient mysteries underwent a period of abstinence coinciding somewhat with the present seven weeks of Lent leading up to Easter. And like the Orthodox observances of Good Friday and Easter Saturday, which are held in the church, the rites of Eleusis were nocturnal.
Reasserting Hellenic Roots
Early Greek Christians turned these coincidences to their own account and assigned Christian symbolism to many of their foods and customs. The Greek Church would in some respects become a focus for Greek cultural identity throughout the eastern Mediterranean, particularly under the later Turkish occupation.
Much of this is lost on the average Greek today, but if there is anything meaningful for Greek-Americans about eating traditional Lenten and Easter fare, it is a deep sense of reasserting one's Hellenic roots, regardless of the religious dimension. Greek-American cookbooks, like Theresa Yianilos' The Complete Greek Cookbook (New York, 1970), point proudly to familiar Greek foods mentioned by Homer, Artemidorus, and other ancient authors.
Among these would be such Lenten dishes as fasoulya, a soup of water, dried beans, celery, onions, bay leaf, and olive oil; and lentil or chickpea soup, also made with water. Vinegar was often added to make these soups slightly sour. Of later introduction was spanakorizo, a rice and spinach stew. Rice was brought to Greece during the Byzantine period; the Turks introduced spinach. Nineteenth-century travelers to
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