Dubai: Easter was celebrated by Christians across the country with family and friends from different communities.
Preceding the midday Easter celebrations comes the mass, which takes place in church, on Sunday morning. While children participated in Easter egg hunts, parents celebrated the religious occasion and indulged in a delicious meal shared with loved ones.
Hundreds from the local Armenian community observed the Easter celebrations on Sunday by attending mass before gathering for festivities at Wafi Pyramids.
Armenian residents gathered at St Grigor the Illuminator Church in Sharjah which was decorated to suit the occasion.
In his Easter mass, Rev Father Mesrob Sarkissian, Catholicossal Representative for the region of Qatar and the UAE, noted that this Easter coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, when 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces.
“A 100 years have passed after more than a million of us were murdered,” he said, “Yet today, we are still keeping up with our traditions, enriching our culture and practising our faith.”
The Easter celebrations were then moved to the Maset Al Yakout Restaurant at the Wafi Pyramid. A two-piece Armenian band was flown in specially for the occasion to entertain the crowds with traditional music.
Also celebrating Easter is the Chaplaincy of Dubai and Sharjah and the Northern Emirates Protestant Christian Church.
According to Reverend Ruwan Palapathwala, Senior Chaplain of the church, the service and celebrations commence at three in the morning and carry on until midnight.
“At a given time, there would be about 25 congregations worshipping simultaneously in different languages, all from the different churches in the compound,” he said.
He also added that Easter is a day to praise, celebrate life and hope in God. After the church service, Father Ruwan explained that families carry on the celebrations over a good meal with family and friends. While many Christian denominations celebrate Easter today, Orthodox churches will be celebrating their Easter on April 12 since they follow a different calender.
Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
With inputs from Razmig Bedirian.
Maria Botros is a trainee at Gulf News
