36th Annual Greek Food Festival, B'ham AL

Today we went to the Greek Food Festival in B'ham, downtown at the Holy Trinity - Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral. We try to make it every year, partly because the food is just always wonderful and partly because I love seeing their sanctuary.

Av had the lamb kebab which was terrific and I had my favorite Greek dish, pasticho (also spelled pastichio):

The pasticho is so great that they even offer big freezer-size pans of it to go!

Here are a few pics of the cathedral:

There was even a very nice gentleman at the entrance available to answer questions. I saw this lovely setting for candles and asked if the parishioners lit these in memory of loved ones who had passed away. He explained that the candle is lit when a church member comes in and makes their prayer (any kind of prayer). He also explained how members not only make the sign of the cross but they also bow. There are icons that are venerated there as well. It was all so nice and so interesting.

There is a lot more about decorum in the Greek Orthodox Church here (this was the same on several G/O church sites - the part about crossing one's legs when sitting was something I had not thought of before but I guess makes sense!) and more about the G/O faith here.