Happy Orthodox Easter to all who celebrate in our community! 

On Sunday, May 2 people around the world will celebrate Orthodox Easter, including in countries such as: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lebanon, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine. Orthodox Easter is celebrated later than most of the Western world, in keeping with the Eastern Christian church’s calendar. The holiday is celebrated locally and by those in our SCU community, as well.

In our global holiday announcements we offer faculty, staff and students the opportunity to share with us a holiday that is important to them for consideration for a future profile, and Orthodox Easter was shared with us by Sean Collins, Director of Environment, Health, and Safety in University Operations. Sean shared with us that he is Greek Orthodox, and appreciates the vibrant Greek community in San Jose. He celebrates Orthodox Easter by enjoying traditional Greek foods like “lots of lamb!” and late night Friday and Saturday church services, as well as Sunday service. Sean and his family dye Easter eggs red to represent the blood of Christ, and then bake them into a traditional Greek sweet bread called tsoureki. They play a game of cracking eggs against each other and whomever retains an uncracked egg will have a year of good luck. 

Similar to Sean, here are ways you can celebrate Orthodox Easter locally:

• Bake tsoureki, the traditional Greek Easter Bread,with this recipe here 
• San Jose's Greek Orthodox Church live stream services - St. Nicholas
• San Francisco's Greek Orthodox Church live stream services - Holy Trinity
• Oakland's Greek Orthodox Church live stream services - Ascension
• Learn more about Orthodox Christianity from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Metropolis of San Francisco

Best,

Susan Popko, Associate Provost for International Programs

Is there an international holiday you would like to see featured in an upcoming announcement? Fill out this form and let us know why it is important to you and how you will be celebrating it this year. We give primary consideration to international holidays from countries that have not already been highlighted.