Lazarus Saturday, celebrated on the Saturday before Palm Sunday (eight days before Easter), marks the beginning of the Holy Week. On this day, we commemorate the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus. It holds deep religious significance in Cyprus, particularly in Larnaka, where St. Lazarus lived after his resurrection and became the first bishop of Kition (modern-day Larnaka). A procession of St. Lazarus relics and icon takes place through the city streets, drawing large crowds of pilgrims and visitors.

On Lazarus Saturday, there is a custom where children go from house to house singing Lazarus carols. They carry palm branches decorated with flowers and baskets, and one of the children, covered in similouthkia (yellow flowers also known as Lazarus) represents Lazarus himself. When they start to sing, the Lazarus child lies on the ground, pretending to be dead. At the point in the song where the words say “Lazarus, come forth”, the child rises up.

At the end, the women of the household treat them with eggs, cheese and rarely with money. In some villages, women ask the children to sing the carols while kneeling or sitting on a copper pot, believing that this would encourage their hens to lay eggs.

This superstition is reflected in the following verse:

Lazarus the shrouded one, whom the hens long for,

The hens heard him, and sat down to lay,

Eggs to redden, to be cracked at Easter.

(Cyp. O Lazaros o dimitos, o kotsinopethimitos,

akousan ton i ornithes tz’ ekatsan na gennisoun,

afka na kotsinisoun, to Paska na fatsisoun)

Another distinctive custom on Lazarus Saturday is the baking of Lazarouthkia, sweet bread rolls shaped like a shrouded man, symbolizing Lazarus.

Lazarus Saturday is a day where faith blends with customs, setting a spiritual tone for the celebratory events of the week that follows.