In many countries Easter is the most important celebration of the year. Greece is no exception of that so it’s not surprising that the Greeks have many traditions during that time in spring.
One of these traditions is to walk with “Lazarus” from door to door and sing the Lazarus song in order to prefigure Jesus’ death and the authority He has over death when he cried out “Lazarus, come forth” after his friend had been four days dead.
Of course the traditions differ in Greece from region to region. Here on beautiful Chios island the boys carry a with flowers decorated cross, the girls have a self made puppet which symbolizes Lazarus and all the children walk together trough their neighborhood, sing and have fun.
The grandparents of two schoolchildren from the Second Primary School of Vrontados came to show the students how to craft a traditional Lazarus puppet and a flower cross: “Lazarus” is made of a big cooking spoon with a white sheet wrapped around it and a face painted on the big side of the spoon. Often the puppet wears a nice dress and is decorated with flowers. The boy’s cross is also pretty easy to craft: Green plants and beautiful flowers are wrapped around a small wooden cross.
The children went with Lazarus and the cross in their hands and sang to the neighborhood. In return for their effort the people gave sweets, Easter eggs or money to the kids.
It was a beautiful day and the students had much fun singing as loud as possible the following song:
Ήρθεν ο λάζαρος, ήρθαν τα βάγια
Ήρθεν κι η Κυριακή που τρών τα ψσάρια.
Βάγια, βάγια τω(ν) Βαγιώ(ν), τρώνε ψάρι και κολιό
και την άλλη Κυριακή τρων το κόκκινο αυγό.
Το αυγουλάκι στο καλαθάκι φραγκάκι στο τσεπάκι.
Δεντρολίβανο και κιπαρίσσι και στην πόρτα σας μια κρύα βρύση.
To see all the pictures go into our gallery!
