Day 45: A Lenten Makaria (Post-Funeral Meal) PART 2

Not all Greek Orthodox funerals have a table pre-set like the one we attended yesterday. The family hails from the northern Greek region of Makedonia, where this custom is prevalent.

Most of us have attended a funeral.  A Greek Orthodox funeral is, in our opinion, one of the most beautiful and complete funeral services.  We follow our traditions at the Church, with the service, the prayers, and the processions.  But also, we follow traditions after the funeral.  This is one of the parts where the Orthodox funeral differs from so many.  

Koliva, cracked whole wheat that has been boiled is thrown on the casket, along with some prosforo. Koliva during memorial services are usually laid out in ornate, beautifully designed platters. The ritual of using Koliva actually predates Christianity in the Greek culture; it has remained part of Orthodox Greek funerals to this day because of the association of Jesus' parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-8) and the Resurrection of Christ.

Small cups of Metaxa brandy ready to be picked up by the mourners at the site of the burial.

At the burial, the table was set with a variety of Lenten food and Metaxa Greek brandy, a mainstay of all the Makaria lunches we have attended over the years.

A mourner at the burial site holding a plate of prosforo bread, halva, grapes and olives.

Once we have gone to the cemetary, said our last goodbyes, and wished the deceased person a good trip to Heavan, and we offer our prayers for an eternal memory, the family and the funeral attendees all head off to either the Church Hall or a restaurant to have a μακαρία (makaria -- mah-kah-ree-ah) or a Funeral Meal.  Μακαρία is only used for the meal directly following a funeral.  If we are talking about the 40 day or one year memorial, then that meal is called a Mnimosino (μνημόσυνο -- mnee-moh-see-noh).  It is two seperate words that sometimes people try to interchange.  But, they really do refer to different things.


At the makaria there are some things that one should expect.  First, expect that much of the crying will have stopped, and many people will be telling loving, funny stories about the deceased and the family.  Second, expect that there will be someone at your table who eats all of the bread before everyone sits down.  And, lastly, expect that you will have a filling meal that  includes fish, rice, salad, and maybe some beans.  


Now, since we are in a fasting period when no fish is allowed except for the 25th of March (Annunciation of the Virgin Mary) and Palm Sunday (coming on April 8 in 2012), how can you enjoy a fish meal at a makaria?  Well, the good folks of our church found a super solution!  They offered the fish meal, which is traditional and standard, and recognizes that there are many people who have some health issues that would prevent them from fasting completely, or who choose not to fast, or who even decided that because it was a funeral, it must be okay to consume fish.  And, even though there are many of us who are fasting and don't want to eat fish, it was offered in keeping to tradition.  But what do you do about the folks who won't eat the fish?  You could give them just rice and beans.  Or, the church folk offered the alternative meal -- the Lenten seafood rice dish.  This dish had shrimp, mussels, clams, and crab all mixed up with some rice.  But, what recipe did they have?


We had to go to the kitchen to find "The Chef" of the day.  Of course, there were at least ten people in there, all of whom are good cooks -- but whose recipe was it?  Each one told us about the same thing (with a rather strong Greek accent), "You know, it's easy.  Put a little onion, a little domata (tomato), and some rigani (oregano) and alati (salt) with the srimps, and then mix with the rizi (rice)."  This is, essentially, the classic Greek recipe -- onion, tomato, oregano, and salt together with something is a good recipe.


To translate for you, here is what they told us, "Dice some onions."  No amount is given, because it will change depending on how much seafood you are adding.  We figured that to feed a family of four with good sized portions, we would use two medium onions, diced.  "Chop some tomato, but keep all the juices.  Or use a can of diced tomatoes with the liquid because that is easier."  That translated well, didn't it?  "Then, add a little oregano and some salt just to taste.  Don't add too much oregano, though, just a bit -- enough to taste, not enough to overpower the seafood."  And, "Mix all that with the seafood (shrimp, seafood mix, crab meat, clams, mussels, whatever is available in any combination), and serve it with the rice that we have already made in the oven."  You may come up with your own translation, but knowing the folks who gave us the recipe, this is what we believe they meant.

This simple, but delicious, Lenten dish was part of our Church's Makaria meal. The accompanying garden salad, with olives and a simple oil and vinegar dressing is not shown above. The dish above, essentially, consists of Gigantes -see Day 32- (giant lima beans with tomato and vegetables), long grain rice with celery and onions, a bun, lemon wedge - all accompanied by a tasty medley of vegetables (red, yellow, orange peppers, celery) and seafood (shrimp, calamari and mussels).

The rice was good.  At church, the rice is always made with chopped onion, celery, salt and pepper sauteed together, then mixed with the uncooked rice and baked in the oven for about an hour until it is done.  We have made that at home, and we have tried it in our rice cooker -- both ways work well.  It is just nice to have those little bits of vegetables in the rice.


The beans were good, too.  You have to see Day 32 of this blog for the recipe for gigantes.  Everyone makes them differently, and now you can make them, too!  


Lastly, we know that we could mix the seafood blend with some canned tomatoes and dump it on top of rice.  That would be okay, but it wouldn't taste as good as what we had at the Church today.  But, we clearly know that we could follow in the footsteps of the Church cooks and add a little time, a little knowledge, and a lot of love in our food and it WILL be delicious.

Matthew 13:3-8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
³ And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Others fell ^[a]among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ⁸ And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

(Source: biblegateway.com)