Easter in Nic

So last week was Easter, which is not a holiday that is typically observed in Azerbaijan. I got the chance to visit one of the few places in the country that celebrates Easter – the village of Nic in the Qəbələ region. This village is home to the majority of Azerbaijan’s Udi Christian population, the rest of whom (I assume most likely) live in Baku.

On Easter Sunday I traveled with 5 other PCV’s to the main church in Nic, where we were greeted by one of the leaders of the church community who spoke a bit of English as well as Azeri. We walked around the Orthodox church and made our way inside – just in time to listen to (what I assume was) the sermon given by (what I assume was) the priest. I keep saying “what I assume” because I understood about 5% of what was going on – everyone was speaking Udi, a language I didn’t even know existed before coming to the village.

My lack of understanding aside, it was awesome to be there and experience a whole new kind of Easter, one resembling in no way whatsoever my Easters back in the Heights. After the service everyone went outside and mingled around the church grounds. We met a couple from America who was visiting the village as well which was cool. We were then invited by the leader of the church to sit down to have an Easter meal with the community – an invitation we more than happily accepted.

Cue guesting experience. The male PCV’s went to sit with the men, and us ladies sat with the ladies. We sat at the end of a long table along with some women we met who were visiting from Baku, as well as some who lived in Nic. We drank tea, talked about why PCV's are in Azerbaijan, ate delicious pastries, and got to try a delicious Udi specialty made with rice and meat (that reminded me of un asopao!). Unfortunately I made the rookie mistake of overloading on bread and pastries in the beginning so I wasn't able to finish my entire plate.


All in all, a great time… I got to eat good food, meet new people, learn about a different culture, and spend an all around fun Easter Sunday.