American in Cyprus: Greek Easter Weekend

Greek Easter was this past weekend and the whole family went to the village to celebrate. We mostly stayed around the house this year and did a lot of eating. The Easter church service begins at 11:00 p.m. and ends at midnight. People pretty much show up whenever they want, though, and we went around 11:30. Again this year many large fireworks were being set off outside of the church. Sofia absolutely hated the loud noises and even though Alex had thought it sounded like a cool idea, he changed his mind after a few minutes and asked to go home. When we arrived back at the house Sofia declared, "That was the worstest baptism ever". Funny because her baptism was scheduled for the day after Easter. Since the church service is basically the day before Easter, there isn't much to do on the actual day except eat some more. The Easter bunny is not a tradition. Instead, family members give the kids chocolates.
On to the baptism. In the Greek Orthodox church, the godparents, Uncle Themis and Aunt Maria, are responsible for all of the preparations. There is much more to do, and buy, prior to the service than in my Protestant church. This includes a white dress, shoes, a cross necklace, blanket and towel to wrap the child in after she gets wet, some special undergarments for under the dress, a large candle, and favors to hand out. Plus, the baptism is not part of a regular church service since it lasts nearly one hour. The priest was nice and left her underwear on to keep her from being too embarrassed when he dipped her in the water. The water was probably only about six inches deep anyway. We weren't sure how she would react to all of it, but she didn't cry or get upset once. She was a bit shy, but went along with everything. Afterwards, we had another large meal and a cake to celebrate. I asked Sofia what she thought of the baptism and she said, "He has a very small bathtub and he should put some waves (the non-slip things you put in a tub) in it so people don't slip." She told Demetris, "That silly priest. He put oil in the water instead of soap. That just makes you all oily." I'm not really sure of the purpose of the oil either, but it is a tradition. She looked beautiful in her white dress.