Every country has important holidays which are celebrated nationwide, let’s learn about the famous Greek holidays and how they are celebrated. There are three major holidays that are celebrated in Greece including Easter, Saints day of the virgin Mary, Ochi day, and of course independence day.
1. Greek Easter
Easter is a national religious holiday, but it is celebrated in Greece on all three weekend days, which is seen around the world, but more common for everyone to celebrate the entire weekend in Greece. Starting Thursday with Maundy Thursday where kitchens are blazing and water cookies are being prepped for the weekend. All weekend there are different egg dying, eating, and drinking activities to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is not celebrated at the same time as the rest of the catholic community, their Easter falls typically a few weeks later.
2. Independence Day: Famous Greek Holidays
Another big holiday in Greece is their independence day. It is not commonly known as independence day, but it is referred to as the celebration of the Greek Revolution of 1821. This day is celebrated each year on March 25th. They recently just celebrated the 200th year of independence. Throughout the streets of Greece and Cyprus parades are held to celebrate, and schools often are a huge part of the celebration. The school kids dress in traditional Greek clothes and march while holding Greek flags. There is also an armed forces parade held in Athens. March 25th is a very important day in Greece and is definitely something to experience!
3. Orthodox Christmas
Greece is a very religious country and they adore celebrating the saints. As one of the famous Greek Holidays, this is a very important day to the Orthodox Christians is August 15th, the Feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. This day is in honor of Mary’s immaculate conception without sin. After gathering for mass people stick around the church and are fed a feast. Later in the day after feasting individuals will continue the celebration with a sailing race. Even if you are not religious this day is very important to many Greeks and would be a very interesting day to experience.
Even if you are not Greek watching how they celebrate these holidays is a very cool experience! Watching people celebrate different historical events and how much passion they have for these is something that you need to experience!
