Christmas
Description:
For the Greeks, this winter holiday is always a joy, in all corners of the country it is celebrated with a special mood, as it is accompanied by a tradition to decorate the house, cook dishes and start a new life in the new year, banishing all the bad from the past.
In villages and villages of Greece on the eve of three holidays (Christmas, New Year and Epiphany), once the owners of houses went to the forest in search of the strongest spruce tree or instead of fir used an olive tree, which was chopped and carried home. This tree was called Christoxilo, the Tree of Christ. The tree was cut and transported to the house in order to burn it in the fireplace throughout the holiday period - from Christmas to Epiphany. Today, this tradition is preserved only in some villages of Northern Greece.
As for carols, then they were necessarily performed by children and adults on these holidays. This tradition is still alive today. In Greece, the New Year is not dressed up except in some areas, such as Nausa and Castoria, although carnivals in Greece are held only during the period of Maslenitsa - "Apocries", which falls at the end of February.
In all parts of the country, the traditional Christmas dish is blueberries (lahanosarmades). They symbolize Christ wrapped in diapers. An buttercake is also prepared, salts (tursha) and compotes from dried fruits are served, as well as "christopsomo" - Christmas bread, where nuts, raisins and olives are mixed. In addition, traditionally these days cooked roast pork, turkey stuffed with rice, chestnuts and raisins, sweet cake and boiled wheat with sugar. St. Basil's Pie (vasilopita), bake a coin - whoever finds it will be happy all next year.