I am spending this week madly rushing around to get ready for Easter Sunday. My husband is Greek and we celebrate Easter with Greek traditions on this day. Forty guests are expected at our house for the celebrations.

The star of the show will be a lamb on a spit. The “lamb team” starts early in the morning to prepare the lamb, filling the inside cavity with herbs, onions, and lemon, and then sewing it up. It will turn on the spit for many hours. We used to take turns turning the lamb but now we have an electric motor to do the job.

My husband and his uncle will also prepare the kokoretisi early Sunday morning. Kokoretsi is also roasted on the spit. Kokoretsi is a traditional dish of lamb intestines wrapped around seasoned offal, including sweetbreads, hearts, lungs, and kidneys.¹ Everyone loves it, although I have to confess that I do not find it appetizing. Surprisingly none of the younger people in our family are interested in learning how to make it.  In a decade or so, kokoretsi may no longer be served.

I found a picture of kokoretsi on the My Greek Food Recipes blog, one of my favourite sites for Greek recipes:

Of course, the lamb will be accompanied by many Greek favourites such as tzatziki, spanakopita, lemon potatoes in the oven, and more.

Another highlight of the day will be the Tsougrisma, a game played by bashing eggs together. Easter eggs are dyed red, representing the blood of Christ shed on the cross.² Once dyed, red eggs are woven and baked into tsoureki, a three-braided Easter bread representing the Holy Trinity.³ The rest of the eggs are used as a table decoration and are used to play Tsougrisma, which means “clashing” and “cracking” in Greek. The cracking tradition symbolizes the resurrection of Christ and birth into eternal life.⁴

To play the game, each players holds an egg, finds another player and taps the end of the egg lightly against the other player’s egg. They then tap together the ends that are not broken. They then move on to other players until both ends of their egg are broken. The person who has an unbroken egg at the end wins the game.⁵

Of course, the Easter Bunny also visits us on this important day. The children are always very excited to hunt for Easter eggs in the back yard.

I am really looking forward to this day of celebration with our family and friends.

1. Wikipedia, Kokoretsi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokoretsi, accessed 16 April 2025
2. The Greek Food Shop, How to play the red egg game, 13 April 2019, https://greek-food-shop.com/2019/04/13/the-best-greek-easter-tradition-how-to-play-the-red-egg-game/?srsltid=AfmBOop0byvUV9-0uNZ0blsMeOGivhbWh8gIqWrTxx9w3PV9Rd6qTRcE, accessed 16 April 2025
3. The Spruce Eats, Greek Easter Egg Game, https://www.thespruceeats.com/greek-easter-egg-game-1705738, accessed 16 April 2025
4. The Spruce Eats, Greek Easter Egg Game, https://www.thespruceeats.com/greek-easter-egg-game-1705738, accessed 16 April 2025
5. The Spruce Eats, Greek Easter Egg Game, https://www.thespruceeats.com/greek-easter-egg-game-1705738, accessed 16 April 2025