Kalo Pascha!

Kalo Pascha! Happy Greek (Orthodox) Easter! To all our Orthodox families at DPS who are celebrating Easter on Sunday April 20th. We hope you have a wonderful time with your families.

Срећан Ускрс! (Srećan Uskrs) to our Serbian families and Христос Воскрес! to our Ukrainian Families!

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What is Orthodox Easter?  Orthodox Easter is celebrated by Orthodox Christians from countries such as Greece, Serbia, Macedonia, Ukraine and Russia. Due to using a different calendar, it falls often falls on a different day to the Easter celebrated in Australia, although this year it is the same! This year it is celebrated between April 18th and 20th. 

During Orthodox Easter, people commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are some special traditions during Orthodox Easter, which are different to those in Australia. These include Painting Eggs, Attending late night church services on Easter Saturday, Fireworks at Midnight, Sharing the holy flame between candles and Sharing a traditional dinner once they get home. A game called Tsougrisma is a popular activity around the table. Each player holds a red egg, and one taps the end of the egg lightly against the end of the other player's egg. When one egg's end is cracked, the person with the unbroken egg uses the same end of the egg to try to crack the other end of the opponent's egg. The winner is the person with the last un-cracked egg!

By Ms Foster

Cultural Studies Specialist