Greek Easter Activities at home

What are the traditions around Easter in Greece and what is it like to celebrate Greek Easter during coronavirus quarantine days? Without celebrations and family gatherings, things will be different this year. Local insider Anastasia from Chania, Crete shares her story with us!

Greek Easter Activities at home

In a few days we will be celebrating Easter in Greece, only this time it will be different. Greek Easter is traditionally the opportunity for large family gatherings, followed by local traditions that have to do with the church mass attending, the special Greek Eastern menu which for many is the end of the fasting period. 

Greek Easter traditions

From all the Greek Easter activities, the red Easter eggs cracking, is what my kids enjoy the most. Among with the chocolate Easter bunnies which they usually receive from the godparents among with the traditional “lambada”, the Greek Easter candle with which they will bring the Holy Light at home after the Mass…

If you want to read more about our Greek Easter Traditions, have a look at the Easter in Greece post.

Only this year things will be a little different…

No mass to attend, no family gatherings. For safety reasons according to the regulations, every family will strictly stay in the safety of their homes. So, this is the kind of Easter we will probably remember forever, but at the same time, we should try our best to keep spirits high and still enjoy it.

Maybe we will see our loved ones online but this should not discourage us since it won’t be long before we will be together again.

Kids can still have a good time. It’s in their nature anyway to always be able to play, laugh and feel positive. So, they will enjoy this Easter no matter what!

Greek Easter activities for kids

They can always help with preparations before Easter, especially in the kitchen. They can bake koulourakia or dye the red eggs. 

Since we spent Greek Easter at home so long, kids can also make nice Easter cards for their friends and loved ones. When my kids were younger, I loved reading them Easter stories and discovering beautiful pictures books Easter stories like ‘We’re Going on an Egg Hunt‘. Now that they are older, they love playing the Easter edition of the Don’t Laugh Challenge. The concept is simple. Make the other player laugh and score points.

Easter egg hunt

For the Easter Day, in particular, this year, I highly recommend you to play egg hunt. It may not be a Greek tradition, and we were introduced to it by our Greek-American godmother. My children can’t wait for Easter Bunny every year.

All you have to do is hide as many red eggs as possible so the kids will have to go hunting! They don’t have to be the eggs you dyed for smashing but styrofoam ones you can but at knick-knacks in dozens. I also like the fillable Easter eggs that can be used over and over again.

If you have a garden the hunting takes longer and you have more hiding options. Just give each kid its own basket to fill. When they have gathered all the eggs they are rewarded with an extra chocolate bunny! 

So start organizing your own Greek Easter activities. And let’s all try to make this Greek Easter at home beautiful, by realizing that we are not being punished but simply we are being responsible so in the next family reunion there will be no-one missing!

Have a good Easter, or Kalo Pascha!

If you need inspiration to keep the kids occupied, or if you are looking for more activities, have a look at my post At home with kids during Corona crises.