Orthodox Christians in Greece's Peloponnese peninsula celebrated Easter Sunday by taking an effigy of Judas and setting it on fire.

More than 1,000 people from the Greek town of Ermioni showed up at the shore to watch the effigy of Judas burn. The raft carrying the effigy was encircled by about 20 small boats before it was set on fire.

The ritual burning of Judas has been observed in the town for the past 25 years as a symbolic punishment for the disciple's betrayal of Jesus Christ.

The effigy has sometimes been used to represent popular figures. In Crete, villagers designed the Judas figure this year to look like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to the Associated Press, the ritual was banned by the government in Athens in 1847 in an effort to avoid offending Jewish banker James de Rothschild, who was visiting Greece to negotiate a loan. The ban led to an uproar, with a mob ransacking the house of a Jew who was a British citizen.

The U.K. asked for restitution, but the Greek government refused, prompting the British to establish a naval blockade. The blockade was lifted six months later and a restitution agreement was reached after a year.

Easter was celebrated by Orthodox Christians a week later this year than Western-based Christian churches.

In Athens, flames erupted as Christians celebrated the holiday by throwing molotov cocktails. Video footage taken on Sunday reportedly showed fireballs bursting as the crude devices landed near the Analipsi church.

On the island of Corfu, Christians marked Holy Saturday by filling large clay jugs with water and throwing them from the balconies of their homes.

Residents believe that the ritual wards off bad spirits, while spectators take home parts of the smashed jars as good luck charms.

The custom, called the "botides," was said to originate with the Venetians who ruled the island between the 14th and 18th centuries. The Venetians reportedly marked the new year by throwing their old things away to make way for new ones. The ritual was adopted by Greeks, who moved it to Easter with the introduction of clay pots.

The annual ritual is observed by many visitors from across the country and abroad.

"I am very happy, because people come from far away, and that is why we do this, they like it very much, they have become hooked on the custom," said Corfu resident Nikos Voskopoulos, who has been performing the ritual for 20 years, according to Reuters.