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re: Easter in Greece and Korca (Tom Hashimoto, Japan/Slovenia/Albania) (John Eipper, USA, 04/05/10 2:25 am)

Harry Papasotiriou wrote on 4 April:

Much of what Dostoevsky writes about religion in [The Brothers Karamazov] would be very familiar to a pious Greek. Easter by the way is much more important as a religious experience in Greece than Christmas, which has largely become a Westernized commercialized occasion.

Tom Hashimoto responds:

"Alithos anesti" in Korca (Albania)! People in Korca are largely Orthodox, and Easter here is very similar to the one in Greece. In fact, I was with one of my family friends here, and many of their family members come from Greece, mostly from Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki is two hours away by car from Korca.

One interesting phenomenon in Korca is that people are "migrating back" from Greece or Italy, buying/building houses for their elders or for themselves. Surely, most of them come back to Albania only during festivities, yet the image of Albanians flooding Europe once visa liberalization is launched seems to be a bit of an exaggeration.

Korca is truly beautiful. Being the first city to establish a school, brewery and cinema, people from Korca give us an impression of educated/civilized Europeans in old times.

JE comments: Schools and breweries--they sound like the trappings of civilization to me! Great to hear from you, Tom.

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