orthodox christians celebrated the resurrection of christ last night.
at midnight, the news of the resurrection is spread via the holy light, transferred from jersusalem by plane to churches worldwide and then distributed from candle to candle. people shoot firecrackers, just to make sure everyone hears the news.
some people attend the entire service, but most people arrive 5 minutes before and leave 5 minutes later with their cheerfully decorated, lit candles (or lampadas) to hurry home and have a light dinner -- which includes dyed eggs and magiritsa.
this celebration frustrates me. i love the symbolism of the passing of the flame but i don't share the christian interpretation. in fact, mine is the complete opposite.
it was fairly late in my life that carl sagan expressed the feelings i had when watching this ceremony since i was a child, when he named his book a demon haunted world: science as a candle in the dark
unfortunately, we didn't have magiritsa last night. but the eggs were good.
you can also view this series of pictures on flickr.
