On Good Friday (April 25th) churches solemnly ring funeral bells throughout the day and a candlelit procession accompanies the shrouded funeral bier of Christ. There is a traditional belief that if flowers from this bier are added to the water used for preparing sour dough starter, bread baking will be successful all year. No work is done on this day and working with wood, hammer and nails is particularly taboo. 

On Easter Saturday ( April 26th)  even those who do not usually go to church attend a special service which starts just before midnight. Celebrants take candles, often quite elaborately decorated. The lights of the church are dimmed just before midnight symbolising Christ's death. The priest then brings out the holy flame and passes it to the congregation who light their candles. The Lenten fast is broken by the consumption of of Mayeritsa, the traditional soup made from offal from the Paschal lamb, lemons, egg and rice, flavoured with dill. On Symi there is usually a big firework display. Red eggs are cracked for luck. Those who succeed in getting their Easter candles home alight use the flame to make the Sign of the Cross on the lintel over the front door to ensure luck for the year.

Easter Sunday marks the beginning of a week of feasting. In some parts of Greece lamb is stuffed with rice and spinach and is roasted in the wood oven, but on Symi it is usually spit-roasted with every person present taking a turn. Traditional songs are sung. In the afternoon on Easter Sunday there is a procession through the harbour in which an effigy of Judas is carried. This is burned near the clock tower with fireworks and fire-crackers. For the whole of the week there is much celebratory feasting, dancing and drinking and the greeting is 'Christos anesti' (Christ is risen), to which the response is 'Alithos anesti' (Truly He is risen).

These photographs were taken on Good Friday, Easter Saturday & Sunday, April 2003