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| Palm Sunday April 12th |
| The Easter celebrations start at 11:00 in the narrow streets of the Old Town with the biggest ceremony: the litany of the body of St. Spyridon, the patron saint of the island. This tradition goes back to 1630, to commemorate the saint’s miracle of saving the island from the plague that killed thousands of Corfiots the previous year. Windows and balconies are decorated by long, dark red pieces of fabric called “Damaska”. The tradition comes from ancient Rome and later from Istanbul where they used to hang the fabrics in honour of the Emperor. Later the custom was adopted by the Venetians who brought it to Corfu. The procession sets off from the Saint’s church and follows the line of the old town walls, from where the Saint drove off the plague.
More than 15 philharmonic bands, each one with different outfit, accompany the procession, playing religionale, trionfale and funebre marches. All members of the bands are having a special cross attached to their jackets, made from palm leaf, celebrating Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
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| Holy Monday - Holy Tuesday - Holy Wednesday |
| In the evenings all the churches in Corfu Town and around the island have a mass. Corfu has almost 1,000 churches so it is impossible for the visitors to miss them. Later at 21:00 different events and concerts are organised by the Municipality of Corfu in different venues in the Old Town usually at the Duomo on Holy Monday, the Palace of St.George and St. Micheal on Holy Tuesday and the Municipal Theatre on Holy Wednesday.
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| Holy Thursday April 16th |
| The bright dyed red eggs that are symbolic of Easter in Greece are prepared by every family on the morning of Holy Thursday after the first sound of the church bells. They use a clay pot which then brake on Holy Saturday and replace it with a new one. The red eggs then, on the Holy Sunday’s Table, become pieces of a traditional game. Each person takes an egg and challengers attempt to crack each others’ eggs. The breaking of the eggs is meant to symbolize Christ breaking from the Tomb. The person whose egg lasts the longest is assured good luck for the rest of the year. Then they stick the shell on doors or throw it into the garden to bless the harvest. The local market is full of life as every household is preparing for the traditional Easter Saturday’s dinner and the Holy Sunday’s great lunch. All the pastry shops sell the “Kolombina” – a Venetian origin Easter cake with a red egg on top, decorated by multicoloured feathers, imitating the shape of a small pigeon – and “Fogatsa”a big piece of sweet bread. The tradition says that both will be eaten on Easter Sunday morning dunked in milk. In the villages the housewives are waking up very early in the morning to make their own traditional Easter sweet bread roll.
Today the service of the Twelve Gospels is taking place in the churches and the monasteries. At Agios Athanasios at Agros, at the Lady of Kokkinada at Lefkimmi and at any monastery that is still operating you will enjoy direct contact with the essence and soul of Holy Week. In Corfu Town the Church of Agios Ioannis (John the Baptist) celebrates with Byzantine hymns while the Monastery of Agia Evfimia beside Mon Repos has the finest tradition of services, together with the Platytera Monastery at Mandouki and Aghii Theodori in Garitsa. After the fifth gospel Jesus is hung upon the Cross and remains there until noon of Good Friday. In the Duomo – the Catholic Cathedral in the Town Hall Square twelve candles are lit which will be later extinguish one by one as the reading of each gospel is completed. After the mass in every church young girls start the decoration of the Epitaphios, the Christ’s funeral bier. Every different bier is beautifully decorated with fresh flowers that were collected throughout the day. |
| Good Friday April 17th |
| Good Friday is the day of the "Epitaphios" the funeral of Christ. Since early in the morning the church bells keep ringing in a slow and sad way and all the flags are half must until the first resurrection. At noon the service of the removal of the cross nails is taking place at the churches and the crusified Jesus is carried to his bier. This event takes place in a deeply emotional atmospere under the sound of the burial bells. Later, all over the island as all over Greece, every church brings out its own funeral bier and parades it around the parish.    Every different "Epitaphios" keeps its own characteristics so that no one looks the same. The attendant of all the Philharmonic orchestras and choirs give another dimension to the occasion. As the Town prossecions are many, they start early in the afternoon to give the Philharmonic orchestras time to escort them all. Schools, scouts and groups of young children carrying bascets full of flowers - which are abundant in Corfu this time of the year - also accompany each Epitaph.
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| Holy Saturday April 18th |
| On Holy Saturday at 06:00 in the morning the custom of "The earthquake" is carried out at the church of Virgin Mary of Strangers. It is a re-enactment of the earthquake which is described in the Godspel as the triumphal sequel after Christs' resurrection. Later at 09:00, the Litany of St. Spyridon church takes place which includes the procession of the Epitaph of St. Spyridon as well as the sacred relics of the Saint. In 1574 the Venetians prohibited the Orthodox Church from holding their “Epitaphios” ceremony on Good Friday so ever since and until today this procession is taking place on the morning of Holy Saturday. This is an ancient and deeply devotional event. The three best Philharmonic orchestras accompany the procession which moves rhythmically together with the music. After the litany the Saint remains at his church for veneration until Easter Tuesday.
At 11:00 the crowd is waiting for the First Resurrection and the ‘Pot Throwing’ custom. When the bells of all the churches in Town start ringing the locals throw hundreds of pots out of their windows, smashing them onto the streets below. This noisy custom originating with the Venetians began in the town and spread to the villages. The Venetians used to throw all their old and useless objects out of the window on January 1st each year so that the New Year might bring them new ones. The Corfiots adopted this custom and moved it to their great Easter celebration. Nowadays, instead of throwing out old crockery they people use big specially made pots (called ‘botis’), filled with water to make a louder crash. Another theory says that they fill the pots with all the bad things of last year and throw them out of their houses. Another one says that they break the pots in which they dyed the red eggs in. Anyhow, taking a piece of the broken pots is considered to bring good luck.
After the dropping of the clay pots the Philharmonic orchestras are marching on the streets of the Historical centre of the Old Town playing allegro marches.
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| Easter Sunday April 19th |
| On Easter Sunday from 07:00 in the morning each church - just like the Epithaphios - holds its own Resurrection processions with bands, schoolchildren, scouts and choirs. At 11:00 the procession of St. Spyridon takes place and by the end of it the two oldest Philharmonic orchestras are playing joyfully at the Historical centre and at Liston. On the same day from 11:00 onwards the Naval Station of Corfu in the New Fortress is open to the public with feasts and local dancing.
In Corfu the traditional menu of the Easter day used to be different from the rest of Greece as the Corfiots were eating egg-lemon soup (Avgolemono) made of 2-3 different kinds of meat. Then they had the traditional roast lamb on the spit for Easter Monday, giving that way more time to the stomach to recover after the long period of fasting. But that has changed as you can smell the roasting lamb since early on Easter mornong all around the island. Families and friends gather together around the spit taking turns in rolling the lambs, eating "meze" and drinking local wine until the lamb is ready and they all sit around the Easter table celebrating.
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