Avgoules means Easter eggs and sweet rolls.
One of the most widely-practiced Easter customs is the coloring of eggs on Good Thursday. During Holy Week, housewives use these painted eggs to prepare avgοules: wonderful traditional Easter Sunday sweet rolls which incorporate a hardboiled egg. According to tradition, avgoules are prepared by women, mostly unmarried ones, and often using partridge eggs, as these the latter bear natural designs on them, making the avgoules even more impressive!
Avgοules are usually prepared before Lazarus’ Saturday (the Saturday before Holy Week). Small basket-shaped avgoules are often given to young girls on Easter Monday. Also, sweet roll dough can be shaped into a variety of designs, such as snakes, a wheel, or a mirror.
In the Dodecanese islands, they are shaped into baskets topped by a red egg, or as snakes with an egg in its mouth or as human-like figures. In other regions, we find them in the shape of birds, dragons, and wild animals. According to popular lore, the purpose of making them is to exorcise evil spirits.
Photo: THE APOLLONIATISSES
