Pissouri, Cyprus - its Easter here.

 It's Easter weekend here. Shops closed on Sunday and Monday.

On Holy Saturday morning, during the matinal Holy liturgy, the so called “first Resurrection” takes place and in Cyprus it is celebrated in a special way. The black veils covering the icons during the Holy Week drop, the priests throw laurel leaves and myrtle to the floor, the faithful bang their pews, the bells toll merrily and the general mood is triumphant. In the evening of Saturday, at midnight, the Holy liturgy of Resurrection (the “Good Word”) is held in the courtyard of churches. A huge bonfire is lit in the churchyard to burn Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus and if you are out and about you will see many fires all over Cyprus. There will be a few fireworks too so the night sky will be ablaze, a bit like bonfire night. from chooseyourcyprus.com
 There was a video on Facebook of a huge bonfire in one of the parking lots in the village and lots of people in the church courtyard.


On Pascha Sunday the Vespers of Love are celebrated. All families roast on coal lamb on a spit or bake lamb in the oven, crack the red eggs and feast in large family groups. Easter Sunday is when the celebrations really begin. Feasts of souvla (large pieces of lamb or pork, or chicken are cooked on an open charcoal fire), salads, cakes, sweets, and alcoholic beverages are also on the menu! The smell of outdoor barbeques infuses the whole island! Lamb is the main traditional Easter meal as the early Christians adopted this custom from the ancient Jews who sacrificed lambs for their Passover celebrations.from chooseyourcyprus.com
Going for a walk this afternoon it sounded like there was a big party going on up in the village with music and singing (I suspect also dancing). In different circumstances I would have walked up to see whats going on.

But I didn't. I kept walking down one of the roads that goes downhill from Sunrise, just to see where it went. There are small groupings of villas with fields in between,

where hay has been cut.

It wasn't a planned or long walk. Just a "get out of the house and stretch my legs" walk. The road ended at a track but I didn't go any further as I just had my sandals on. Really hadn't planned.

Daniele likes the Greek signs, unfortunately this one is translated for her. No "Littery" here.

Someone has been planting vegetables at the side of the road. There are plants in those plastic bottle containers and some have already been planted.

After visiting here, Nicola sent me a photo that she wants me to paint from our trip to Ireland. This is "Our Castle", so named because it was so much fun to find and was in such a stunning location.

I did a paint sketch to start working out how to paint it.

The last couple of walks I have been on have made me very aware of how long my hair is getting. It's in my eyes and making me very hot. So I decided to cut it. I should have looked up on the internet "How to cut your own hair" but I didn't. I just took the kitchen scissors to it. My off cuts look like a small, furry animal.

Turned out a bit shorter than I intended

I'm lucky it's wavy as that hides some of the unevenness.

Guest photographers

Daniele sent me a photo of Rasta looking very regal (well as regal as a cat with thumbs can look)

Aimee sent me a photo of Maya and Avery riding their bikes in sunny, but cold, Edmonton. I love the reflections in their sunglasses.