For the fam, and everyone else reading this who isn't Greek (so basically everyone who isn't John), the title is "Christos Anesti!" (pronounced khree-STOHSS ah-NES-tee).

I went to John's Easter celebration this weekend. We went to the St. John's Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Omaha at midnight for Easter service. The Greeks do know how to carry on tradition. When we walked in the door, they handed out candles for the service. The candles were lit at the beginning of the service and stayed lit during the entire 2 1/2 hour Easter celebration. Quite impressive considering the fact that there was a young girl (around 7) who had her own candle in the pew in front of us. The service proceeded in Greek, sometimes followed by an English translation. It was beautiful in spite of the fact that I had no clue what was going on for 2/3 of the time. It was a really cool experience and it definitely made me want to know more about the Greek Easter traditions. At the end of the service the congregation got up and moved towards the front of the church to receive red hard-boiled eggs (red for the blood of Christ, another Greek tradition). And of course, everyone in the line is responding to the priest by saying either "Christos Anesti" or "Alithos Anesti" and I'm such a space cadet, looking around the church, examining all the various religious pieces at the front. I walk up there and he hands me an egg and I'm just like "Thank you!" and John's behind me laughing because I'm not paying attention at all and it's obvious to the priest. The priest did smile and was very gracious in spite of the fact that I butchered the expected response even though it was repeated multiple times during the service. I did manage to respond with "Christos Anesti" to the second priest when he handed me the tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread).

On Sunday, we went to John's grandmother's house for Easter lunch, complete with polish sausage (his mom is polish). All the food was very good and I ate way too much given the fact that we had another meal planned at 4pm. That was fun and everyone I'd met on various occasions on his mom's side were there. They were all really nice to me. Then, we went to a picnic at the Greek Orthodox church where John's Aunt Helen attends. Of course, they had lamb (another tradition) and I thought it was good (I've never had lamb before). Along with the lamb, were other traditional Greek foods and massive amounts of different desserts. Also, unlike the Lutherans where the pastor says "Christ is risen!" and the congregation responds by saying "He is risen indeed." The Greek response (in English) is "Truly he is risen!" and I kept wanting to say "He is risen indeed" to his family when they all greeted me at the Greek Easter picnic so I had to do a double-take. But of course, they were as gracious as always and it was a fun time.

Finally, Sunday night before I left, John and I got our red eggs from church the night before and (according to tradition) we rapped the ends together. It's said that if your egg doesn't crack, you will have a good year. We did small ends first and I hit his egg and his cracked. Then we did the fat ends and he rapped my egg and mine cracked. So, apparently it will be a good year for both of us.

Greek Easter was fun and I'd definitely do it again. I think I want to know more about it before I experience it again. And hopefully I'll be with it enough to follow the traditional responses.