Thursday, January 6/2011

Epiphany - which always feels like a bigger feast day in Cyprus than Christmas, though perhaps only because the celebrations are more public and less familial. We go down with Maggi to the town pier where the archbishop, having come in a parade more military than episcopal from St. Lazarus Church (traditionally believed to be the burial place of the Biblical Lazarus) throws a cross into the sea. The teenage boys compete for the honour of retrieving it, diving into the water. And it always is retrieved safely, having been prudently tied to a cord. The Greek Orthodox Church is definitely in Church Militant mode, as the archbishop is accompanied by soldiers carrying high powered automatic rifles as well as cadets of both sexes, some of the girls carrying daisies. The red-coated military band is nice but there's a bit too much awareness of the aggressive political role played by the Cypriot Church.

But it's a lovely day, sunny and warm, and the road along the beach has been blocked off for the parade so the throngs are spilling from the pier and the promenade into the street. The pier is strewn with the aromatic sprays of leaves that we can never identify, and we gather some to bring home to our flats, Maggi retrieving a particularly attractive bunch from under a young man's feet.

Stop on the way home at a new open air café in Ermou Square and Maggi treats us to beer at a sunny café table. Shocking price but it does come with a plate of mixed nuts. It`s busy, though, and everyone in holiday mood for the end of the Christmas season.

M to dinner here in the evening. J has done beef more or less stifado style, making a sauce for it with the marinade wine and caramelised onions. And we`ve saved the New Year`s bottle of sparkling wine. Nice having M in the same building so that no one has to head out home after a visit.