New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
Of course these two days are a time to party, party, party and carry on eating. Naturally there will be gunfire and fireworks. The
bars and taverns are open till late in the night and present traditional Greek music or bouzouki live music. It’s time to enjoy a
raki or a glass of Greek wine.
On New Year’s Day St. Basil’s pie is made. This pie contains a coin and whoever gets the slice with the coin in it is in for a lucky
year. The story goes that the people in Cappadocia had collected money and jewellery to pay as a tax to the ruler. St. Basil
changed the ruler’s mind and convinced him not to take the people’s valuables in tax. St. Basil did not know how to return all
the valuables to their rightful owners, so he told them to bake small pies. He then put the money and jewellery into the pies.
Miraculously everyone got their own valuables back.
Christmas gifts
You can’t really celebrate Christmas without the giving and receiving of gifts. In Greek tradition, St. Basil is the one to bring gifts
to children every New Year’s Day (St Basil’s Day) — unlike other traditions where Father Christmas arrives either on December 6
(Saint Nicholas’ Day) or on Christmas Eve. St. Basil, being born into a wealthy family, gave away all his possessions to the poor,
the underprivileged, those in need and children. However, a similar story exists for another Greek bishop, Saint Nicholas of
Myra. Tradition has it that he helped a poor man marry off his three daughters because he could not afford a proper dowry for
them. This would have meant that they would stay unmarried and probably, in order to obtain employment, would have been
forced to become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man’s troubles, St. Nicholas decided to help him. He went to the man’s house
under the cover of darkness and threw three purses, (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window and into
the man’s house. Today, the Western Santa is St.Nicholas, while the Eastern Santa is St. Basil. These Christmas gifts do not
necessarily have to be expensive; for Greeks it is the gesture of giving that counts rather than how much the present cost. It is
important to them that the gift is original and demonstrates thoughtfulness and love; this is why many of these gifts are hand-
made by the giver.
Epiphany (The Blessing of the Water)
January 6th marks the end of the Christmas celebrations. It is a feast day celebrating Christ’s baptism in the River Jordan.
The priest incants the Divine Liturgy and blesses the water. A cross is then thrown into the sea, lake or river and young men
jump into the water to recover it. The one who finds the cross will be blessed for the whole year, the water is totally
cleansed and the visits from the bad spirits are gone until next year.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
Of course these two days are a time to party, party, party
and carry on eating. Naturally there will be gunfire and
fireworks. The bars and taverns are open till late in the
night and present traditional Greek music or bouzouki live
music. It’s time to enjoy a raki or a glass of Greek wine.
On New Year’s Day St. Basil’s pie is made. This pie contains
a coin and whoever gets the slice with the coin in it is in for
a lucky year. The story goes that the people in Cappadocia
had collected money and jewellery to pay as a tax to the
ruler. St. Basil changed the ruler’s mind and convinced
him not to take the people’s valuables in tax. St. Basil did
not know how to return all the valuables to their rightful
owners, so he told them to bake small pies. He then put
the money and jewellery into the pies. Miraculously
everyone got their own valuables back.
Christmas gifts
You can’t really celebrate Christmas without the giving and
receiving of gifts. In Greek tradition, St. Basil is the one
to bring gifts to children every New Year’s Day (St Basil’s
Day) — unlike other traditions where Father
Christmas arrives either on December 6 (Saint Nicholas’
Day) or on Christmas Eve. St. Basil, being born into a
wealthy family, gave away all his possessions to the poor,
the underprivileged, those in need and children. However,
a similar story exists for another Greek bishop, Saint
Nicholas of Myra. Tradition has it that he helped a poor
man marry off his three daughters because he could not
afford a proper dowry for them. This would have meant
that they would stay unmarried and probably, in order to
obtain employment, would have been forced to
become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man’s troubles, St.
Nicholas decided to help him. He went to the man’s house
under the cover of darkness and threw three purses, (one
for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the
window and into the man’s house. Today, the
Western Santa is St.Nicholas, while the Eastern Santa is St.
Basil. These Christmas gifts do not necessarily have to be
expensive; for Greeks it is the gesture of giving that counts
rather than how much the present cost. It is important to
them that the gift is original and demonstrates
thoughtfulness and love; this is why many of these gifts are
hand-made by the giver.
Epiphany (The Blessing of the Water)
January 6th marks the end of the Christmas celebrations.
It is a feast day celebrating Christ’s baptism in the River
Jordan. The priest incants the Divine Liturgy and blesses
the water. A cross is then thrown into the sea, lake or river
and young men jump into the water to recover it. The one
who finds the cross will be blessed for the whole year, the
water is totally cleansed and the visits from the bad spirits
are gone until next year.
