Transcript

Location:  St. Elias Orthodox Church (on 716 Copeland Ave, La Crosse, WI)

Patricia Markos: St. Elias Orthodox Church is on the North Side of La Crosse. Something called Hufflas, they’re parties that they had where everybody would come in, all the adults would come in, and there would be food, and there would be drinks, and there’d just be dancing. And there were those kinds of celebrations for anniversaries, and for birthdays, and for weddings. And just those special occasions, baby showers, I seem to remember, and everybody gathering together.

I think the thing that really strikes me, and I have a very good memory of, is Easter. The service would start at about 10:30 or 11:00 on Saturday night. Everyone would be wearing their Easter Best, of course. And we would have candles that we lit with each other, we passed the flame along. So everybody had a candle, and then part of the service was for us to go outside, and the priest was leading the way. And we would go around the whole church three times as a way of saying “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” And then at midnight, of course, because the services were long, we went into Easter Sunday. And then we would rejoice and say, “Christ has risen! Truly, He has risen!” And we would say that in Arabic, and we would say that in Greek, and we would say that in English.

I’m Dr. Pat Markos, I work at UW-La Crosse, and I’m thrilled to be here today to talk about St. Elias Church.