The Role Food Plays in Religion
Greece has many connections between religion and food. In the Greek Orthodox religion there are over 180 days of fasting through out the year where people are not allowed to eat any animal products. After each fast there is always a feast day where people get to eat all of the food they were unable to during the fast. This brings families and friends together in a happy, joyous way. There are certain dishes that are used to signify certain aspects of the Greek Orthodox religion, which is the main religion practiced in Greece. In the common pastry dish baklava there is supposed to be 33 layers of filo dough to represent the 33 years of Christ life. Also there is a dish called Lampropsomo, this is a type of Tsoureki bread, flavoured with ground cherry stones, served at Easter in Greece; the name signifies the light of Christ, and red-painted hard boiled eggs are inserted as a symbol of Christ's blood (often three eggs, symbolic of the Holy Trinity). After this dish is served people play a game with the eggs baked inside. Adults and children both will tap the eggs against one another’s and who’s ever egg cracks first loses.