2. Every December, in Aristotelous Square in
Thessaloniki ,the second biggest city of Greece a
sailing ship and a big star are put up. It's a
popular tourist attraction.
4. Christmas Holidays
In Greece when we talk about the "holidays"
we refer to the holiday period of Christmas,
New Year and Epiphany.
Traditionally the Christmas holiday period
lasts 12 days in Greece. There are many
customs associated with the "twelve days of
Christmas."
5. A fasting period starts almost 40 days before
Christmas.
Housewives prepare the Christmas cookies,
honey cookies(melomakarona) and sugar
cookies(kourabiethes) which are eaten on
Christmas Day when the fasting ends.
6. Christ’s bread
Christopsomo or Christ’s bread is
a holiday tradition in every Greek
household. It’s a sweet egg-bread
baked with nuts, raisins or
candied fruits. It has a cross and
symbols of the
family's occupation, on the top. It
is eaten on Christmas Day.
7. On Christmas Eve, children often go out singing
'kalanda' (carols) in the streets. They play
drums and triangles as they sing. Sometimes
they also carry model boats decorated with
nuts which are painted gold.
Carrying a boat is a very old
custom in the Greek Islands.
If the children sing well, they
might be given money, as well
things to eat like nuts, sweets
and dried figs.
8. The Christmas tree
Everyone buys and decorates
a Christmas tree, whether it
is real or artificial.
They are usually decorated a
few days before Christmas
and remain at homes until
Epiphany.
9. Little boats
In older times they would
decorate little boats instead,
especially on the islands.
11. On New year’s Day, family and friends have
lunch together. They usually eat pork, potatoes
and salads. Then they all gather around the
table because the man of the family is going to
cut the Vasilopita and give each one a piece.
What is special about this kind of new year’s
sweet bread, is that there is a coin in it. The one
who finds the coin in his piece is considered to
be the lucky one of the year.
It is called Vasilopita,( Saint Basil’s bread),
because the church celebrates the name of Saint
Basil ( Vasilios in Greek), on the 1st January.
12. Epiphany
Epiphany Day or Theophania (Theophany) or
Fota (the most common word for this
celebration) means "vision of God", which falls
on January 6, and is a Christian feast day that
celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a
human being in Jesus Christ.
13. On this day the Orthodox Church performs a Great
Blessing of the Waters. The clergy casts a cross into
the water. If swimming is feasible on the spot, any
number of brave volunteers attempt to recover the
cross and the person who gets the cross first swims
back and returns it to the priest, who then delivers a
special blessing to the swimmer and their household.
