Encounters, breakups and even wars…
Each year, approximately 2,380 millions of Christians around the world observe, with greater or lesser fervor, his Holy Week.
Although several of the traditions are common, many places have their particular customs, some of which literally give flavor to these dates .
Delicacies such as the Argentinean cake and the colomba di Pasqua -easter pigeon- Italian, as well as the brioche du carême or hot cross bun -glazed raisin buns with a cross on top- and the deep crimson red eggs that decorate the tsoureki sweet -a bread scented with orange and spices- from Greece deliciously mark the holiest week of Christianity.
But few of these delicacies reach the dimensions of the first of these 4 curious traditions ions.
Smashed Eggs
Every Easter, members of the World Brotherhood of Knights of the Giant Omelette meet in at least six cities in the south-west of France to fulfill their mission: “prepare and serve, for free and full of joy, a giant omelette“.
Some 50 volunteers break some 15,0 eggs, they add several kilos of duck fat and a good amount of salt, pepper and the local hot pepper d’Espelette , and they are poured into a giant frying pan, which measures about four meters in diameter.
The chefs, wielding huge wooden spoons that look like oars, stir the mixture over an open fire in the town square , for about 30 either 40 minutes, until it is ready to be distributed among the crowd that comes to the festivities.
The tradition began in 1973, but according to legend, was born from a visit to the region de Napoleon Bonaparte who, after savoring an omelette prepared by a local innkeeper, ordered the villagers to gather all the eggs they could find to make a giant one for his army.
Over time, the custom crossed the border and, although not always with the same recipe or at the same time, thousands of eggs are also broken in places in Belgium, Canada, the United States and Argentina.
And speaking of breaking…
Shattered vases
On the Greek island of Corfu, while the camps years ring at noon on Holy Saturday, residents throw huge ribbon-adorned vases from their balconies decorated with red flowers.
They celebrate, noisily, that death has been defeated by the Resurrection, with the breaking of the vases symbolizing the earthquake that occurred when the tomb of Christ was opened.
The inspiration for the noisy event comes from Venice, where people threw their old belongings out of the window on New Year’s Day in the hope that it would bring them news.
The residents of Corfu adopted the custom for the most important day of Greek Orthodoxy, the Day of Resurrection, and they chose those vases precisely because they make a lot of noise when they break.
But Corfu is not the only Greek island that celebrates at full volume the Resurrection.
War!
Easter Sunday midnight mass is celebrated throughout Greece with a fireworks display, but on the island of Chios things are serious.
Two churches rivals recreate a “rocket war” or Rouketopolemos, in Greek.
I don’t know knows when the brawl started, although local tradition says it dates back to the Ottoman era, and no one remembers the reason anymore, but the parishes of San Marco and Panaghia Ereithiani, built on hills to 380 meters one of the other, open fire against the bell tower of the opposition throughout the night.
Until 1889 they did it with cannons and, when these were banned and confiscated, the parishioners resorted to homemade rockets.
The sign of victory is the most direct hits inflicted on the opponent, which are counted the next morning, to declare the winner.
But every year both congregations declare themselves winners, and agree to disagree and settle accounts the following year.
Now, if you wanted to celebrate the Resurrection in the same way exciting but kinder, your destination could be the hometown of the Roman poet Ovid in Italy.
La Madonna che scappa
The medieval city of Sulmona makes a narrative recreation of the encounter between the mother of Jesus and the risen Christ.
On Easter Sunday, the Virgin leaves the church of San Filippo Neri, on a corner of Piazza Garibaldi, wearing a white handkerchief and dressed in black, for her mourning, held aloft by members of the confraternity of Santa María de Loreto (luterini) who take her through the main passage of the square, and accompanied by two apostles.
At one point, the atmosphere becomes tense. The two apostles stop, while, from afar, the Virgin looks for her son.
Suddenly, she sees him
At 12.00 at one point a loud whistle and a bang are heard.
In an instant, with an ingenious system of threads (known only by the brotherhood and by the family that has the privilege of dressing the Virgin), the black mantle and the handkerchief fall, revealing a splendid green dress embroidered in gold and a red rose, while 12 pigeons fly through the air.
The luterini begin to run, the Virgin seems to fly between the applause of the town, the notes of the band, the ringing of the c ampanas and the rumble of firecrackers, to meet his risen Jesus, a statue that had been placed at the beginning of the ceremony next to the central arch of the Roman aqueduct that frames Piazza Garibaldi.
The meeting is celebrated with hugs and even some tears.
The ritual has its notes of superstition: if the whole sequence goes smoothly (race, fall of the mantle and handkerchief, flight of the doves), the tradition predicts that the year will be propitious, while if something does not go as expected, or misfortunes.
The concern increases if the statue of the Virgin is damaged or falls during the race, as happened in 1914, which, according to some, foreshadowed the subsequent war.
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