Note 4 — Chapter III · Christian Folk Festivals

At the evening meal of the day before Easter the lenten fast is partly broken by eating fish and boiled eggs, but no meat.4 The denial of the flesh recommences, however, at bedtime, for not a morsel is eaten until Easter midday. Early dawn sees the people putting on their new clothes, especially new shoes which are considered a necessity on this day, and all, newly attired, go to church where communion is celebrated. The church is usually filled with flowers and its most brilliant ornaments are displayed, the service ending at midday in time for the usual feast of stuffed roast lamb, the customary red eggs, and the egg bread made only at Easter time. In the afternoon the men visit from house to house and something dainty is always served, a cocktail or a cup of coffee with sweets like Turkish delight or bonbons. The formula repeated by the guest upon entering a house is always the same; “Christ is risen from the dead,” he exclaims, and is answered by the host with the usual formula, “Blessed is the resurrection of Christ.”