Greek and Cretan Christmas customs

Kala Christouyenna! Merry Christmas!

At least 95 percent of all Greeks claim membership in the Greek Orthodox church, part of the
Eastern Orthodox church. Until 1054, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches were one
body. Theological, political, and cultural differences split the church in two, and those differences
were never completely reconciled. Despite the power religion holds over everyday life, Greeks are
not devout churchgoers. Aside from the special Easter celebrations, services are attended mainly by
old women and young children. And the Greeks often defy their church's teachings by clinging to
old 'superstitions' or their own beliefs from cultural heritage.
Religious customs are alive and Christmas, Easter and the Assumption of The Virgin (15th
August) are considered to be the greatest of religious feasts. To members of the Eastern Orthodox
Church Christmas ranks second to Easter in the roster of important holidays. The Greek Orthodox
Church is celebrating Christmas on the 25th December, on the same date as the Catholic and
Protestant Churches.
That Greek date for Christmas was picked because on the same day in the Mediterranean
area they used to celebrate a Persian god, Mithras, who was the god of the Sun. And, because the
difference between light and darkness is such an important aspect of the December month, all our
Greek traditions and customs are still based on that contrast of darkness and light.
Christmas tends to be a quiet, solemn, season. In some areas, the holiday is preceded by a
time of fasting. For Greece, the season is in full swing by December 6th, the Feast of St. Nicholas
when presents are exchanged, and will last through January 6th, the Feast of Epiphany. Nicholas
(and every Greek Nikos) have their so called name day on 6th December.
On the day and evening before Christmas and New Year's, children sing the equivalent of
carols (kalanda) from house to house. These kalandas bless the house. Often the songs are
accompanied by small metal triangles and little clay drums. The children are frequently rewarded
with sweets and dried fruits.
The word carol comes from a Greek dance called a choraulein, which was accompanied by
flute music. The dance later spread throughout Europe and became especially popular with the
French, who replaced the flute music with singing. People originally performed carols on several
occasions during the year. By the 1600's, carols involved singing only, and Christmas had become
the main holiday for these songs.
St. Basil's Day (New Year's Day) is a time for parties and gift giving. St. Basil is the Santa
Claus of Greeks.
Saint Nicholas
St. Nicholas is important in Greece as the patron saint of sailors. According to Greek tradition, his
clothes are drenched with brine, his beard drips with seawater, and his face is covered with
perspiration because he has been working hard against the waves to reach sinking ships and rescue
them from the angry sea. Greek ships never leave port without some sort of St. Nicholas icon on
board.
After 40 days of fasting, the Christmas feast is looked forward to with great anticipation by adults
and children alike. Pigs, lambs and goats are slaughtered, women usually bake ceremonial pastries
during this time for the big family meal, served after church services on Christmas Day.
Melomakarona are honey-dipped cookies often stuffed with nuts. Kourambiedes are cookies dusted
with powdered sugar and very white, Diples are fried dough cookies, dipped in honey.
On almost every table are loaves of Christopsomo ("Christ Bread"). It is a round loaf, decorated on
the top with a cross, around which people will also make symbols shaped in dough that represent
whatever it is they do in life. If people live on an island and they're fisherman, they will decorate the
bread with fish. If they have a lamb farm, you'll see little lambs.
Christmas trees are not commonly used in Greece (but this is changing rapidly). In almost every
home the main symbol of the season is a shallow wooden bowl with a piece of wire that is
suspended across the rim; from that hangs a sprig of basil wrapped around a wooden cross. A small
amount of water is kept in the bowl to keep the basil alive and fresh. Once a day, a family member,
usually the mother, dips the cross and basil into some holy water and uses it to sprinkle water in
each room of the house.
There are a number of beliefs connected with the Killantzaroi, who appear only during the 12-day
period from Christmas to the Epiphany (January 6). These creatures are believed to emerge from
the center of the earth and to slip into people's house through the chimney. The fireplace is kept
burning day and night throughout the twelve days, to keep the spirits from entering by the chimney,
a curious inversion of the visit of Santa Claus and Saint Nicolas in other countries! By the way,
these two are not the same:
The original Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, was born in Turkey in the 4th century. He was very pious
from an early age, devoting his life to Christianity. He became widely known for his generosity for
the poor. But the Romans held him in contempt. He was imprisoned and tortured. But when
Constantine became emperor of Rome, he allowed Nicholas to go free. Constantine became a
Christian and convened the Council of Nicaea in 325. Nicholas was a delegate to the council. He is
especially noted for his love of children and for his generosity for them. He is the patron saint of
sailors in Sicily, Greece, and Russia. He is also, of course, the patron saint of children. The Dutch
kept the legend of St. Nicholas alive. In 16th century Holland, Dutch children would place their
wooden shoes by the hearth in hopes that they would be filled with a treat. This custom is still alive,
without the wooden shoes that is, and is celebrated on the evening of December 5, the night before
St. Nicholas' birthday on the 6th, when both children and adults exchange presents. The Dutch
spelled St. Nicholas as Sint Nikolaas, which became corrupted to Sinterklaas, and finally, in
Anglican, to Santa Claus. In 1822, Clement C. Moore composed his famous poem, "A Visit from St.
Nick," which was later published as "The Night Before Christmas." Moore is credited with creating
the modern image of Santa Claus as a jolly fat man in a red suit. Note the difference of St. Nicholas
and his celebration on December 5 and Santa Claus, who now is connected to Christmas, December
25. Both are dressed in red and have a white beard. St. Nicholas is dressed like a bishop and comes
on a gray horse and has nothing to do with reindeer. Now it's told he comes from Spain.
Santa Claus gives way to Saint Basil: gifts are exchanged on St. Basil's Day (January 1). On this
day the "renewal of waters" also takes place, a ritual in which all water jugs in the house are
emptied and refilled with new "St. Basil's Water."
In the Western Church, Epiphany (6th of January) is dedicated to the commemoration of three
events: (1) the baptism of Jesus; (2) the visit of the Wisemen to Bethlehem, and (3) the miracle of
Cana (the changing of the water into wine), by which the Western Church celebrated the
manifestation of Christ to the world and His power to perform miracles. In the Orthodox Church,
the Nativity, after being introduced from the West, was designated to be observed also on December
25th, probably by the heretic Arians in Antioch. This happened about fifty years after Epiphany, the
anniversary of the baptism of Jesus Christ, was designated. In fact, St. Basil and St. Gregory had
attempted to differentiate between the two celebrations by imposing the name "Theophany" on the
Birth of Christ, December 25th, and keeping the name "Epiphany" for the celebration on the 6th of
January. However, they were unsuccessful.
The Greek Festival of Epiphany, or 'The Blessing of the Waters', is held every year on January 6
throughout all of Greece. This is the special occasion when many daring young Greek men brave
the chilly waters to dive for a cross after it has been blessed by a priest and thrown into the water.
For his gallantry, the first man who recovers the cross is said to have good luck throughout the
coming year. The day long festival also features the blessing of small boats and ships, and later on
affords entertainment, music, dancing and food to all those present.
Xmas: This abbreviation for Christmas is of Greek origin. The word for Christ in Greek is Xristos.
During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Christ's name, "X" in place of the
word Christ in Christmas as a shorthand form of the word. Although the early Christians understood
that X stood for Christ's name, later Christians who did not understand the Greek language mistook
"Xmas" as a sign of disrespect.

Modern Greek Christmas

Christmas was never considered much of a holiday in Greece compared with Easter, but things have
slowly changed and now it has become a much cherished celebration. The traditions have become
simplified, but still Christopsomo bread is served at the big Christmas meal. Many people deplore
the secularization of Christmas. For instance, now you'll find Christmas in Greece celebrated with
lavish decorations and lights strung across most of the streets in major cities and towns. Athens in
particular has responded to the revival of Christmas where its former flamboyant mayor, Dimitris
Avramopoulos, has added new colour to the festivities by erecting the largest Christmas tree in
Europe.
Lamb and pork are roasted in ovens and open spits and there are large family dinners. The Western
tradition of sending Christmas cards to all your friends and family slowly gets adopted.

The Christmas Pig

In Crete it was formerly the custom for every household in the village to fatten a pig, the "swine"
(chíros) as it was called. The pig was slautered on Christmas Eve and on Christmas was the main
dish.
On the second day of Christmas, the villagers cut the meat of the pig and they made:
• • Sausages (loukánika)
• • Apákia: smoked meat
• • Thick jelly (tsiladiá): all traces of meat were removed from the head of the pig and all
boiled together. The broth with special preparation turns into a thick jelly with inside pieces
of meat.
• • Sýglina, ie meat of pig cut into small pieces, which were smoked and put in large
containers and covered with melted fat of the animal. The fat clots, soon after the heat of the
meat was gone, thus can be maintained for several months.
• • Omathiés, pig intestines stuffed with rice, raisins and chopped liver.
• • Tsigarídes, fat pieces cooked with spices and eaten with bread, for a snack in the
countryside, where they were harvesting the olives.
The Christmas Pig was the main source of meat for several weeks. The rest of the year the Cretans
kept a diet extremely low in meat, the famous Cretan diet (Mediterranean diet), that gave the
Cretans of decades longlasting health and longevity.
Nothing is wasted from the Christmas pig, for each piece of the animal had its use. Even its bladder,
the "foúska" as it is called, was washed and cleaned and then inflated to become a ball, a valuable
gift for children of that era.
Christmas bread - Christopsomo
There is no better bread to bake for the holiday season than this delicious Greek Christmas Bread -
Christopsomo, a slightly sweet, light, buttery bread, infused with cinnamon, orange and cloves, all
the warm flavours of Xmas.
It has a lovely melt in your mouth texture, and is a great bread to make to have for Christmas
breakfast or as a snack, whatever your religion. Christopsomos in Greek literally means Christ's
bread.
Like all Greek religious holidays, there are special foods that are made just for those occasions.
Some of the celebratory foods made at Christmas in Greece are favourites such as Kourabiethes and
Melomakarona, although of all foods, bread has the most religious significance in the orthodox
church.
In fact there are many different breads made in Greece especially for religious holidays, such as
Tsoureki for Easter. Christmas bread is made the day before Christmas, and there is a lot of care and
attention put into the baking of it, the best quality, fresh ingredients are bought especially to make it.
It is then eaten traditionally, on Christmas Day.
The Christmas bread is usually round in shape, the top is decorated from the dough with a byzantine
cross flavoured with aniseed, the ends of the cross swirling around golden walnuts. Other variations
with decorating the loaf, can be to use the dough to make a family crest or shapes representing the
family's profession.
There are many, many variations to this recipe all over Greece. For example, the Christopsomo
Sfakiano - is a particular recipe from Sfaka in Crete. They cover this bread with sesame seeds.
Sfakiano Christopsomo

Ingredients
2 pounds of flour
1 piece yeast
1 1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cups of tea sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon cloves crushed
1 teaspoon crushed mahlepi *
1 teaspoon anise
1 teaspoon coriander
2 vanilla
2 pieces of gum (crushed with a little sugar)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup of orange juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 nuts
1 cup of sesame
How to make it:
In a bowl, dissolve the yeast with two tea cups of lukewarm water, add half the flour and a little oil.
Work the mixture to absorb the liquid and become a little thin dough. Cover with warm cotton towel
and leave in a warm place. Boil half a cup of water with coriander and anise, strain and let cool
down. When the dough has doubled in volume add the sugar, salt, spices, the remaining olive oil,
the juice from the cooked coriander and anise, orange juice and finally the remaining flour, which
you mix with the baking powder. Knead the mixture with quick and powerful movements (if you
put it in the mixer, set it to work on medium speed). If the dough is too thin, add a little flour on top.
To work easier, dip your hands every so often in warm water. When you obtain a smooth and
homogeneous dough, cover with two cotton towels and leave in a warm place until it doubles in
volume. Divide the dough into quarters for 4 pieces of round Christopsoma. Place in the center on
top a nut and sprinkle with plenty of sesame. Bake the loaves onto two oiled sheets for 45 to 55
minutes at 180° C, until gold brown.
* Mahlepi (Mahleb in Arabic) is an unusual Greek spice with a distinctive, fruity taste. The finely
ground mahlepi powder is made from the inner kernels of fruit pits of a native Persian cherry tree.
For many Greeks, the sweet smell of mahlepi always suggests the aroma of freshly-baked tsoureki,
a traditional sweet bread with mahlepi baked for Greek Easter. Mahlepi is also used in holiday
cakes and cookies.
Boat vs tree: A conflict of Christmas cultures in Greece
‘ Imported tradition’ being abandoned for quintessential Greek symbol
Greeks are increasingly turning to decorating small Christmas boats instead of trees, considered an
imported tradition, in the mistaken belief they are reviving an old Greek custom.
“We are slowly abandoning Christmas trees, which are considered a foreign custom, and turning to
ships instead,” said Erika Vallianou, a journalist from the western island of Cephalonia.
“It’s part of a general trend to revive old customs. We are trying to recover the island’s distinct color
that was lost when all our buildings collapsed in a big earthquake in 1953,” she said.
Cephalonians have even set up a citizens’ group to promote the boats and its results are already
evident. “Every Christmas, more and more boats appear in banks, hotels and shops,” Vallianou told
AFP. Sparing the island’s unique population of black fir trees is put forward as a further argument in
favor of the vessels.
The Christmas boats are made of paper or wood, decorated with small, colorful lamps and a few,
simple ornaments. They are usually placed near the outer door or by the fire and the bow should
always point to the interior of the house. With golden objects or coins placed in it, the ship
symbolizes a full load of riches reaching one’s home. And the Christmas boat is making inroads into
mainland Greece.
Every December, Greece’s second city, Thessaloniki, erects a huge, illuminated metal structure in
the shape of a three-mast ship next to the Christmas tree in its main Aristotelous Square.
“The Town Hall introduced the ship in 1999. Thessaloniki is a port city and we thought this would
show appreciation for the role the sea played in the city’s economy,” said Thessaloniki Municipal
Councilor Vassilis Gakis.
“Our ship was the first of its kind in Greece. Many other municipalities are adopting it, but their
models are not as big as ours,” he told AFP.
Even the vast majority of Greeks who continue to stick to the Christmas tree consider it a foreign
import. The modern Christmas tree entered Greece in the luggage of the country’s first king, Otto of
Bavaria, who ascended to the throne in 1833 but the tree did not become popular before the 1940s.
The ship, by contrast, is viewed as a quintessential Greek symbol. Greeks have been seafarers for
thousands of years and the country is today one of the world’s mightiest shipping nations.
But scholars are skeptical about the ships’ Christmas role. “Ships are not Christmas trees,” said
Dimitris Loukatos, one of Greece’s most important ethnographers, as early as 1975. “Though it is
true that children on the islands sang Christmas carols holding illuminated model boats in their
laps,” Loukatos said.
For children, they served as a lantern in the dark or as a box for presents collected in return for
singing carols. “But in other parts of the country, children held other symbolic objects, such as
miniature models of the Saint Sophia Church in Constantinople (Istanbul),” said Loukatos.
“Using boats as Christmas ships is a new-fangled development,” Ekaterini Kamilaki, president of
the Hellenic Folklore Research Center told AFP.
The Christmas tree, assumed to be foreign, may even have some Greek roots. Use of decorated
greenery and branches around New Year is recorded as far back as in Greek antiquity, as it is in
other pre-Christian cultures.
Tree branches and green bushes called “Christwood” always had a place in Christian households
during the medieval Byzantine and Ottoman empires. “Whether its enemies like it or not, it is
certain that the Christmas tree existed in the Byzantine Empire,” Kamilaki said, citing historical
evidence from fifth-century-AD northern Syria. “We don’t want to ban the Christmas tree. It has
roots in mountainous Greece,” said Gakis, explaining why the tree and the boat coexist in
Thessaloniki’s Aristotelous Square.