Fun and festivity: Easter celebrated amid variety of sweets, decorated eggs

Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is a busy time divided between prayer and preparations

KARACHI:

It is almost evening when a Christian family in Gulistan-e-Jauhar sits down together to devour the feasts of Easter on Sunday.

The day is celebrated to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After a very busy day comprising early and late morning masses, families look forward to getting together and enjoying each other's company and thanking God for His blessings. The two-day gap between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is a busy time for the members of the community as they divide their time between prayer and preparations of Easter.



Easter masses are held across the city every year, beginning from midnight to late in the afternoon. The community celebrates the occasion by visiting each other's houses, exchanging gifts and sweetmeats. Traditional hot-cross buns, cakes and painted Easter eggs, a favourite among kids, are at the heart of the occasion.

"Today on the menu is white karahi," Saima Kiran, who is juggling to keep the meal in order and get everyone settled together, tells The Express Tribune excitedly. "Every year, we usually go for biryani and qorma. This time we did something different." She adds that the family doesn't have meals like these on regular days. "We also mark cake-cutting celebrations like the ones on Christmas. For us, both Easter and Christmas count as two Eids and we celebrate them both with the same passion."

Kiran goes on to explain how the family returned from shopping at around 11pm the night before. "Around the same time, masses and Easter vigils begin in different churches and we leave to attend them," she says.

Young preachers

Nine-year-old Elijah Stavros and seven-year-old Alisha Raza are two young preachers in Kiran's family. From the very early ages, her two nephews have been reading out stories from the kid's Bible in different churches across the city.

Elijah, who first read out the story of 'The Kind Man' when he was four-and-a-half years old, was soon followed by his younger brother, Alisha, who regularly reads out the stories in Urdu now. "No, we didn't read out stories in today's service," says Elijah, when asked what he did for this year's Easter. "Our father had some work, so we couldn't participate." He goes to narrate how his day went by, starting from waking up at 5am for the mass and now wanting nothing more than the white karahi cooked at home.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th,  2016.