Skopelos Easter 2001

On average the Greek Orthodox and our Easter is at the same time. This happened this year (2001), and will happen again next in 2004, so we decided to go there this year. We are very fond of Skopelos, and when going to Greece outside the tourist season, Skopelos was a natural choice. It is a rather long journey when you have to travel via Athens, but since we had enough time we combined it with a few days in Athens. There are buses leaving from Athens that correspond with the hydrofoil from Ag. Konstantinos to Skopelos. The whole trip takes about 6 hours, so we were happy to be met by our landlady with a car at the port of Skopelos.

Easter also marks the start of the tourist season, and just like we Norwegians head for the mountains at Easter the Greeks head for the islands. We have never seen such an amount of Greeks with maps and tour guides on Skopelos before,

The Ephitaf parade on Good Friday was very special for us Norwegians. It was almist like waiting for the parade of May 17th. We were told the parade would be at about 8-8.30 p.m. At 10 p.m. it arrived.

"Everyone" comes home for Easter to celebrate their largest religious feast with their families. Easter marks the end of Lent, and though not many people fast for 40 days any more, a lot of people eat no meat from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. The two large ceremonies are on Good Friday and the night before Easter Sunday.

All of Good Friday women from the 4 parishes of Skopelos decorate the Ephitaf of their church (a table to symbolize the bier of Christ), and in the evening people gather at the 4 main churches.

A parade the starts at the first church and go to the second where they join in the parade, and so on until all four churches have joined. There is a friendly competition between the four of who has the most beautiful Ephitaf and the loveliest song. Everybody sings the same song, a sad but beautiful Byzantine hymn.

Night of Easter Sunday in front of Panagia Papameletiou

The yard in front of the church is crowded on the night before Easter Sunday. The priest speahes and give blessings, while fireworks make a lot of noise all the time.

At midnight on the night before Easter Sunday the Lent is over and the party can start. Everybody is out, they go to church to get the flame from the holy candle. This night was very windy in Skopelos, but people simply brought their candles to their cars and drove home to eat traditional Easter meals. Amongst others they consist of grilled lambs and soups and sausages made of entrails.

The celebration of Easter in Greece was very spescial, we are happy that we got to experience this and gladly recommend it to others.

The weather is one thing you can't do much about, and during our 10 days in Greece we had everything from sunshine and 25 degrees to pouring rain and 5 degrees. A lot of the houses for rent are summerhouses, so it is a good idea to check that the house/apartment has heating and that blankets are available in the bedroom.

I Athens the prices went up a little during Easter (an 8-9% "Doro Pascha" - Easter gift), especially on restaurants and taxis. On Skopelos we did not find any price raise. But all have new price lists with prices both in Drachmas and Euros.

As for accomodation, there are quite a few hostels and hotels that don't open till May. The agents take advantage of this and turn up the prices when competition is low. We were offered a hotel room which was far above the hotel's prices during summer high season, and this is unfortunately not good publicity for Skopelos.

The candles are very important. Decorated candles for the women and candles with toys like Barbie dolls and cars for the children.

The church of Panagia Papameletiou. The road description is simple: Go to the harbour, the up, then a little right and a little left, then up again and so on.... And in a while maybe you are there, or by one of the other approx. 120 churches in town.


Judas was not treated well on Skopelos either. He was properly hung, then burnt and finally shot to pieces by 5 men with shotguns.