SERBIAN ORTHODOX EASTER 2020

Tomorrow, on 19.04.2020. all Serbia and Orthodox parts of the world celebrate the biggest holiday in Christianity – Easter. 

Not without a reason, Easter is considered for the biggest holiday among all the Christians, no matters are they Roman-Catholic or Orthodox confession. 

 The Easter Fast

Some of the strict Orthodox Christians have the 46-day lenten fast before Easter. The fast purify their mind and body. But the all others who don’t do this long fast they do fast on the Good Friday (Veliki Petak), the saddest day in Christianity world. On the Good Friday, it is tradition to decorate Easter eggs. In Central Serbia, some of the houses have the rule to paint eggs on Good Thursday or Good Saturday.

All different parts of Serbia are especially proud of their own way for decorating eggs. But they all have one in common the first egg should be painted in red to symbolize the color of Jesus Christ blood and that one we call ČUVARKUĆA (Housekeeper). That egg should hold a special position in the house and remain there till the next Easter. But there are also variations, in some parts of Serbia there is a belief that on the end, before the next Easter, Čuvarkuća should be buried in the anthill, so the householders will be diligent as ants in the next year.

 The story about Easter eggs is not complete without mentioning competition in cracking eggs, and it is not only popular among the kids but also elders take it seriously, we even have WORLD EGG  TAPPING COMPETITION (VIDEO)  in the village of Mokrin in North Serbia.

Easter in the time of the Coronavirus crisis

Due to the State of Emergency and new measures taken by the Serbian government from Friday 17.04. 17:00h till Tuesday 21.04. 18:00h is forbidden to go out from home for all the citizens. Therefore all Serbians will stay at home on Easter 2020. This holiday is all about friends and family gatherings and festive meals but we are all aware that we need to be responsible and give our best to fight COVID-19 crisis so this year we will celebrate Easter only with the closest ones at our homes.

Throughout the day people crack Easter eggs, enjoy delicious food, and often say “Christ is risen!” to each other, responding with “He is truly risen!”.

 For the end of this story we want to greet you in a Serbian traditional way for Easter: 

 HRISTOS VASKRSE!