Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Feast of the Epiphany, which in Cyprus seems unrelated to the Magi. Religiously, it commemorates the Baptism of Christ, but culturally it´s a carnival style family day. There is, in every Cypriot city (near the water at least) a parade from the principal church to the sea. In Larnaca this is from St. Lazarus Church, the crypt of which is said to have been the burial place of the Biblical Lazarus following his second death (in fact the name Larnaca means coffin).

The parade is a rather unsettling mixture of Orthodox Church clergy in full regalia and the military, cadets as well as weapon bearing soldiers. Greek flags much in evidence. The bishop throws a cross off the pier (prudently tied to the end of a string - the cross, not the pier) and teenage boys dive to retrieve it. It´s an honour to be the successful diver but it´s no polar bear feat. The high temperature today is close to 20 degrees, warmer in the sun - and the water will not be terribly cold. The pier is strewn with aromatic leaves from the mountains which we, along with others, gather up afterwards, as they smell lovely in the flat.

There are crowds for the parade and the waterfront is bright with helium balloons and full of children eager for the bouncy castle or ice cream or popcorn. And plenty of people of all other ages as well. We stand on a low wall at the edge of a bed of petunias to get a better view. Then Maggi texts "where r u" and we meet up. Impossible in the crowd without directions. Back to our place for tea and cake.

In the evening J does swordfish for dinner. And then the terrible contrast with our day as the news brings ever more horrific scenes of Gaza, such a short distance away, sharing our eastern end of the Mediterranean. And last January we were in Palestine.