Evening star., 1962-04-22
Next Sunday is Easter Too

" $1,000 members of Eastern Orthodox churches in
Washington celebrate their Easter Festivities begin
ming midnight Saturday with the news of the Resur
rection will continue throughout their Easter week
Families and friends, captured by the spirit OF this
greatest of feast days. will gather to celebrate did
earlier generations in the old countries with singing
dancing wnng and feastng If the weather is good on
Sunday there will be scenes reminiscent of ceebra-
tons in Greek villages with whole lambs roasting on
spits outdoor fires.
The Orthodox Easter date is determined by the
Julian calendar which is IS days ahead of the GregO
rian calendar April becomes their date for equinox
rather than March 81 Easter is the Sunday following
the first full after April However if the Jewish
Passover (see page has not been celebrated Easter
is postponed until the Sunday after Passover This is
logical since the Crucxion took place on Passover,
and the Resurrection the following Sunday.
Since the Orthodox Lent began on Clean Monday,
March r. strict fast has been observed with all ami
NAL and dairy products omitted from the diet On Easter
the meal will be feast to delight gourmet
The foods will be rich with butter eggs, and cheese
for in the old countries where the recipes originated
there were abundant stocks of these products accumu
lated during Lent.
favorite of the Russians Is cheesecake and the
Ukrainians make paska, an Easter bread baked with
cheese The Greeks bake little cheese tars called ro
peta and kououra bread with red egg in the center
When / asked Greek woman why their eggs are
dyed red she said: THAT is story remember from
childhood. Mary Magdalene was Carrying DdSket vi
eggs which turned red at the time of the Crucfxlon
The red eggs are used in a cracking ceremony at
the beginning of the Easter meal The family members
tap their eggs together trying to crack one anOthers
while keeping their unbroken.
Easter eggs are universal but varied in appearance
The Ukranans make designs in wax on their eggs be-
fore dying them The designs characteristic OF diff
ferent regions and look like copies Of Ukrainan en-
broidery
Local Orthodox congregations Greek, Russian,
Ukrainian Syrian Serbian and Carpatho Russian are
united in acceptance Of the doctrine Of the ancient
church Their religious observances during the coming
Holy Week will be similar, but will be conducted in
different liturgcal languages.
The interior of an Orthodox church is different from
a Roman Catholic or Protestant church. The altar
stands behind partition called the Iconostass which
has double doors at the center called the Royal Gates
There is no statuary in their churches, it being too
strong reminder of old pagan idols Instead there are
flat pictures called icons.
Explaining the icons Of SITS. Constantine and Helen
Greek Orthodox Church. Father Demetrios G. Kalaris
told me: "Icons meant to render visibly the my
steres of the world They do not mean to
depict life as is but rather mystical representa-
ton of life as it is in eternity"
The sacred drama of the Orthodox ritual is particu-
larly in Ofthe Holy Week services and
the Resurrection celebration. Because their church
day begins at sundown of the evening services
commemorate events associated with the next day
The Reenactment of the Crucifixion will be held in
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