Experimental Lyceum of Patras University

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS IN GREECE

• According to tradition, during the Greek 12 days of Christmas (December 25 to January 6), goblins come out to tease people and eat their food.

• This tradition is based on the legend that the "waters aren't christened" since Christ has not yet been baptized.

The goblins (kalikantzaroi in greek) are renowned for their ugliness and their impishness.

These creatures are believed to emerge from the center of the earth and to slip into people's house through the chimney, and this is the reason people, especially in villages, keep the fireplace lit during the 12 days of Christmas.

More mischievous than actually evil, the “Kalikantzaroi” do things like extinguish fires, ride astride people's backs, braid horses' tails, and sour the milk. They are not very intelligent and can't really hurt anybody. In many parts of Greece, people hang a pomegranate above the front door of their house. By the New Year, when the fruit will have dried, Greeks throw it on the ground so it breaks, and step into their house on their right foot.

According to tradition, this brings good luck for the year to come.

On New Year's Day families cut the vasilopita (βασιλόπιτα in greek), a New Year’s bread or cake which contains a hidden coin or trinket which gives good luck to the receiver, in order to bless the house and bring good luck for the new year. The name "βασιλόπιτα" comes from 'king' (βασιλεύς) + 'pie ('πίτα’), but was reinterpreted as Saint Basil's (Βασίλειος) cake.

This is usually done at the midnight of New Year's Eve. A coin is hidden in the bread by slipping it into the dough before baking. At midnight the sign of the cross is etched with a knife across the cake. A piece of cake is sliced for each member of the family. Slices are also cut for various symbolic people or groups, depending on local and family tradition. They may include the Lord, St. Basil and other saints, the poor, the household, or the Kalikantzaroi.

The tradition of vasilopita is associated with the legend of Saint Basil. According to the legend St. Basil called on the citizens of Caesarea to raise a ransom payment to stop the siege of the city. Each member of the city gave whatever they had in gold and jewelry. When the ransom was raised, the enemy was so embarrassed by the act of collective giving that he called off the siege without collecting payment.

St. Basil was then tasked with returning the unpaid ransom, but had no way to know which items belonged to which family. So he baked all of the jewelry into loaves of bread and distributed the loaves to the city, and by a miracle each citizen received their exact share, the legend goes. In some telling the sieging chieftain is replaced with an evil emperor levying a tax, or simply with St. Basil attempting to give charity to the poor without embarrassing them.

By • Nefeli kokloni

• Elina Liapi

• Nikolas Latsis