The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church hosted its 39th annual Greek Festival on Friday Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27, welcoming the Asheville community to share the tastes, teachings and traditions of Greece.
“At this Greek Festival it’s all about the music, the dance, the culture, the food and the family. It’s really, really fun,” said Bess Crider, iconography teacher and 13-year member of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. “We also have the church tours with the priest and the iconography lessons, two pieces of the Greek Orthodox faith which are very explicitly talked about.”
Crider teaches an Intro to icons class at the festival to showcase the importance of iconography to Greek Orthodox tradition. The class was open to anyone who wanted to learn more about the icons and its connection between the earthly and the divine. Traveling around the world and seeing icons in places like Russia and Turkey sparked Crider’s adoration of the icon…