I’ve always considered myself an adaptable person who enjoys new adventures. Little did I know how thoroughly my then fiance and her family would test that. As the son of a minister I have been to many Easter celebrations, but nothing compared to one weekend in Astoria, NY.
It was 2005 and my fiance and her extremely Greek family invited me to New Jersey for Easter. I had heard lots of Easter stories from her and her family but took it all with a grain of salt. I had learned that sometimes stories can be embellished. It was Saturday May 31st and it was about 9pm when we left NJ headed for Astoria NY. What I didn’t know at the time was that Astoria, in Queens NY, is to Greeks what Florida is to retired New Yorkers. It’s just where they go. So we arrive in Astoria and go to a little cafe` and have some coffee that instantly put 5 new strands of hair on my chest. It started to rain a little as we made our way to the church. We couldn’t actually go into the church which was fine because I wasn’t exactly dressed for church. We stood outside in the light rain with a few hundred other people. The service continues and toward the end my fiance says some like, “When people greet you with chrisos anessi you need to respond with aleeth annessi OK”, well that’s what I heard anyway. Sure enough the service ends and people are hugging and saying “Christos anesti” or Christ is risen. I replied with mumbles because I didn’t know then to say Alithos anesti. Then the world exploded. I kid you not people where shooting off fireworks from the rooftops all over the place. It was like the churches we competing. I don’t know who won but it was fun to watch. As we walked back to the car I was amazed how at 12:30am there were thousands of people milling about and cafe` after cafe` was packed. Everyone was happy. We made it back to NJ, had a few drinks and then we rested.
Waking up Easter morning was just like any other morning, except everyone was excited. Seems we were going back to Astoria for dinner with the extended family. When we arrived I was introduced to everyone. There was no way I was going to remember all of their names, but I did learn that if you’re in a large gathering of Greeks you can bet that most are named Eleni or Yianni. I went out to smoke and all the guys came with me. I grabbed my drink of choice, a beer, from a cooler in the garage. It was then I met Arnie. Arnie was the name for the whole goat on a spit rotating over an open flame. A shock to say the least, but closer to disturbing. From head to tail there was a goat roasting in front of me. I won’t describe to you some of the changes Arnie made as he cooked but by the time he was done I was far from hungry. Back in the garage however it appeared it was time for my initiation into the family. Uzo! A liquor that closely resembles Everclear to my untrained pallet. After they circled me and handed me a shot I had no choice. One down, man did that burn. I did figure out that after they forced about five shots on me it didn’t taste so bad. We went inside and dinner was ready. It was more than could fit on two folding tables. The food was great, and I tried all sorts of new things I couldn’t pronounce. I even had a small piece of Arnie. That Uzo will make you brave. The conversation was loud and happy, even if it was in a language I didn’t understand. I did however feel accepted.
After six years of experience I’m now very fluent in Greek Easter and the fun that it entails. We even invited her family to our house where we cooked Arnie on my grill with a spit. My family and friends have never had so much fun! They are still talking about it. Family, food, fun, isn’t that what Easter should be!