According to the Greek Orthodox calendar, yesterday was Good Friday (we celebrate Easter Sunday tomorrow). Good Friday is celebrated with a solemn procession of Christ's tomb, a wooden structure decorated with flowers and an icon of Christ on the cross. Everyone following the mourning procession holds a yellow candle as they follow the shrouded funeral bier that is carried through the town's or village's streets to the local church. Every major city and tiny town in Greece has their own procession; I attended the service with my family in the village of Galatas, close to where I live.
Galatas has a long standing connection with Wellington, New Zealand, my hometown. It is also the village from where my mother left Greece to migrate permanently to New Zealand.
It it interesting that your city celebrates Good Friday with a procession too.
ReplyDeleteGood Friday is still celebrated in this country but in my lifetime I have not seen a single procession. It would be a rare event almost anywhere in my state.
I do like your photograph of this procession. Nice work.