There's a fantastic Mexican restaurant located .1 miles from my house. It's probably my favorite Mexican restaurant ever. The front of their building has a customers' entrance and a staff entrance where their butchers slice up meat. This entrance has a decorative metal screen door, a la 1970's. The guys inside can see the people passing by, and the people passing by can't see inside. Lately, the guys have found a fun new game, that involves standing right next to the door on the inside and waiting for passersby. When they see someone, they say something funny right as you're passing. Today, on my way back from getting coffee, it was "Hi honey" in a very Nathan-like tone.
I just about jumped out of my skin. Then I laughed all the way home. Those crazy kids.
Today I'm going to a friend of the family's easter party. I've known this woman since I was a kid, and it's due to her that I ever had the guts to try calamari. She told me they were onion rings, so I had no fear. Nathan has to miss the party because he's working, and he's really pissed about it. And he should be. Easter is the biggest day of the year for Greeks. He even bothered to learn the response to the easter greeting.
I tried to rent a car yesterday so that I could go to church last night and to Mina's house today, but couldn't get one. So I missed church, and now I have to take Trimet to Mina's. She lives in this section of Portland that's not accessible easily, so it's going to take me two hours to get there, and a half mile of walking in my nice clothes. I wish the truck could have come this weekend.
In case you guys are wondering why Easter is this week (or Pascha, as it's called in Greek), there's a reason. Back in the days of Ancient Rome, I'm sure you guys know that the Romans discovered that their calendar wasn't very accurate, and they changed it to have some more days. And they also named months after caesars. This change of calendar messed up the religious calendar that had been used for millenia before that. See, passover happened on the same day every year, according to the previous calendar. And the date of Easter is based on the date of passover. (I think Jesus was crucified during the week after passover). So the Orthodox church, not being prone to follow in the footsteps of that silly little branch that broke off from them that called itself Catholicism, just said "Nope, we're not assimilating ourselves to your newfangled calendar. The old one worked fine for us, and we'll keep it." Much like big Paul from Orange County Choppers thinking Paul Jr. is a little idiot every time he thinks of doing something new, the Orthodox Church likes to look down its nose at the younger, less mature Catholic Church. This refusal to follow a new calendar was their way of sticking it to the ro-man.
So Happy Easter.
Kalo Pascha.
Christos Anesti.
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3 comments:
Alithos Anesti!
--C
I'm guessing that Christos Anesti means something like "Christ rises". No idea what Alithos means. I would surmise that Kalo is something along the lines of "happy", but past experience has shown that the term rarely translates literally.
So far as determining when Easter is... that's a theological nightmare. After the switch from the Jewish to the Gregorian calendar, the exact dates of the start of Passover (Good Friday), and the ressurrection got lost in the shuffle. Only approximations could be made, so a series of lunar almanacs is used, and some church mandates made it so Easter is always on a Sunday. Found an interesting description HERE among the tidbits I read on the matter.
Steph mentioned you and Ted4 will be up this way over the next few weeks. Look forward to seeing you up here (bring cruddy weather with you, and we'll send you back home).
Wow! All I can say is you're the man. Alithos means "truly" or "verily". And kalo technically means "good", but when does a holiday greeting ever begin with "good" in English? I would have said "happy".
Good work, Flint.
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