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Some of my fondest memories growing up were going to my Uncle Timmy and Aunt Litsa’s house in Mansfield for various Greek dinners, and one of the main ones they hosted every year was the Greek Easter dinner.

Uncle Timmy, to this day, always pinches my cheeks when he greets me then kisses both my cheeks the customary way Greeks do. When I was young, Aunt Litsa always referred to me as a κούκλα μωρού (Greek word for baby doll).

While the adults visited at the large dining table set up in my aunt and uncle’s family room, I would play with all of my cousins who were there. As we ran around the yard filled with pear trees, my Uncle Timmy was busy cooking a whole lamb over an open fire on top of a little hill in his yard. He would turn it on a rotisserie every few minutes to ensure it cooked all the way through. I always asked him, at least 10 times, if the lamb was done yet. He would cut me off a piece and hand it to me, I think to get me to be quiet. It was delicious.

Their house was not huge so they would put tables together in their family room that were almost the same length as the room, making it difficult to navigate your way around the tables and all of the people. Until I was a teenager, I was banished to a table in their basement with my brother and cousins, the proverbial kids’ table. It was a big deal when we finally got to sit upstairs at the “big” table.

My aunt, her sister, and Grandma Greek when she was in town, cooked large pans of Greek-style lemon potatoes, pastitsio, and several other Greek side dishes to go with the lamb, along with plenty of desserts, including baklava.

Aunt Helen wrote about the Greek Easter in her book with Grandma Greek.

The celebration of Easter by the Greek people throughout the world brings to mind the many unusual customs observed in Greek homes regarding various foods and their preparations. Beginning with Palm Sunday, only fish is served in the home on that day, which starts the week of Holy Week fasting. It is during this week that all foods are eliminated which are from anything living. This includes meats, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, and fish. A great many of the more devout older people eliminate olive oil as well.

Unlike the Anglo-Saxon method of dyeing eggs in many different colors, the Greeks dye the eggs only in deep blood red, which signifies the blood of Christ.