Housesitting, Housesitting in Turkey, Life of adventure

Easter in a Muslim Country

Suzanne

Last year, 2017, we were eating chocolate in Aubonne, Switzerland; the previous year in Helmsley, United Kingdom; and, going further back, in New Zealand.

So, as you can see, there is an overwhelming repetitive habit occurring with chocolate.  It’s true, we love eating chocolate at Easter time. There are a few things in life worth repeating.

If the truth is to be told, we love eating it on any given day of the year.  For the purposes of this tale, we shall try to convince ourselves that Easter is the time for chocolate, bunnies and all things sticky like hot cross buns.

So for chocolate lovers all over the world and us, Easter is usually “in a mostly Christian country“, indeed, a time to indulge our chocolate habit.   In my younger years, we were spoiled not only with chocolate eggs but also with a keepsake eggcup.  Which would be used throughout the year, or until broken, whichever came first.  It was to be used to place a real egg with soldiers on the side with lashings of butter.

This year, no big selling hype of Easter celebrations in shops, no eggcups, no decorative chocolate Easter eggs.  Though there is still chocolate to be had, we will still be indulging this weekend, just not in the form of an Easter Egg.

So some things in our lives never do change, just the form in which they arrive. Turkey, on the other hand, has had many changes.  There are still a few minority groups alongside the 95% Muslim who form the population of Turkey.  These groups will be celebrating Easter in various traditional ways.

Let’s see how a few religious minorities may celebrate this holy weekend in Turkey.

Syriacs: As they are the oldest Christian group not only in Turkey but also in the world. Their emphasis is on the resurrection of Christ. The process starts 50 days before Easter with a fasting period. During this time, they do not use animal products.

Assyrians: Preparation of a ”Hanoi Krithoni”. With this model, they knock on the doors of different houses, sing songs, and collect oil, eggs, and other food. By the end of the day, the food will be prepared and eaten together.

Armenians: Preparations start seven weeks before Easter. Spiritual readiness is essential. The start of Easter celebrations is one week before Easter Sunday. In Surp Zadik, giving red eggs and eating sweet yeast bread in the church are ways they celebrate.  Another step is to remember loved ones who have passed away, so a visit to the cemetery is all part of the day’s celebration.

Greeks: They celebrate the day Christ was crucified, and they do not eat meat or animal products. On Saturday night, everybody goes to the churches, and at midnight, everybody lights candles. When they return from church, they tap their red eggs [red is a sign of life], and for lunch, they set a table with food.  Sweet yeast bread is shaped like a plait.

So if you have, like us, the chance to be in a Muslim country, you may enjoy the smell of baking sweet bread (plait bread/Paskalya Ekmek) or other delectable food, instead of the usual Hot Cross Buns, as you sit down for an Easter treat.  Whatever we do, one thing I am sure of is that we shall endeavour to do justice to a few sources of that dark, luscious substance, not in the form of an egg,

Whether you celebrate or not, let tolerance for others and their religious beliefs take higher priority than those Easter Eggs.

 

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Published by Suzanne

I'm a lover of creativity and movement, expressed through photography, words, travel and sports. . . . . . .

44 thoughts on “Easter in a Muslim Country”

    1. Happy Easter to you and Martin. Glad to hear you are enjoying being back in Perth, she is a beautiful city to live in. Lovely to have you comment on the blog 🙂

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  4. Happy Easter!
    I was never a big fan of Hot Cross Buns but a huge fan of Ester Eggs. 😉

    We are off to the mountains again and hoping the village of Rogliano will host many festivities – Easter is big in Italy, as are the size of the Easter Eggs.

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    1. Happy break in the mountains Nilla. Italy is a very Christian country the opposite to Turkey!! Enjoy the festivities 🙂

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    1. Sacrilegious! 😃 Jelly Beans were my favourite when doing half marathons!! Hope the bunny delivered jelly bean filled eggs?

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  8. It’s so interesting how various cultures celebrate in different ways. Lovely post. Happy Easter. We’re spending Easter putting a new shower in my Mums bathroom, not our normal Easter but I’m sure there’ll be some chocolate needed during the process 🐣😀x

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    1. It is interesting how we all experience this time of the year, or not as for some people. What you are doing this Easter is what it is all about. Being caring and doing things for others. Enjoy those chocolate breaks Sam 🙂 x

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  9. I like chocolate as much as the next Jo but I do think that a lot of us have strayed far from the original intent. Peace and tolerance are wonderful things. Easter blessings, Suzanne. 🙂 🙂

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  10. Happy Easter. Love chocolate too and especially love Easter Eggs. Something very special about having a big hollow chocolate egg. Don’t usually have them anymore but could easily manage at least a couple this weekend.

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    1. Whoops how did I miss this message. Apologies Jonno! We had no Easter goodies just a bit of chocolate. Hope you two had a good weekend.

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  13. I would love to try some of those Easter related baked goods. Paskalya Ekmek (and the similar version in Eastern Europe) sound amazing!

    Anyway I hope you have a happy, chocolate-filled day.

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  15. Our Easter Day did actually involve chocolate. Dark 72% cocoa chocolate, as that was the only “dessert” we had at home, when friends unexpectedly visited for the weekend. We hadn’t seen them in 7 years, while sailing together in the Caribbean. A wonderful time had by all, and, I hope, by you two as well. 🙂

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  16. Pingback: We’re going on an Egg Hunt! – Losing the Plot

    1. Sonia, thanks for the mention. Apologies for not having any eggs, maybe next year, depending of course where we are 🙂

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  17. Interesting post, I just got back from spending Easter in Turkey – though there was no significant emphasis on Easter in the Antalya region, some commercial shops and the hotel I stayed in offered small decorative gestures of Easter celebration which also seemed to coincide with Iranian new year celebrations!!

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    1. Hi Cheryl, there is no real Easter celebrations here only a few minority groups which I wrote about. You were not that far away then 🙂 We are off to the UK next week!

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  18. Pingback: 35 THINGS about the Turkish Culture – Global Housesitter x2

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