From Crete to Thessaly and from Macedonia to the Aegean and the Ionian islands, the richness, diversity and “colorfulness” of customs and traditions in Greece constitute a unique amazing experience for travelers.
The decoration of the traditional Greek ship
Although the decoration of the Greek ship was gradually replaced by the decoration of the modern Christmas tree, it seems that no one has forgotten it. According to tradition, the boat symbolizes the new direction given to human life by the birth of Christ. It is an old tradition of our country, when children made their toys with love, joy and creative mind. In the past children used to sing the Christmas carols holding a boat in their hands. In some areas, mainly on islands, they still decorate “boats”, while in recent years a noticeable attempt has been made by some municipalities in the country to restore the custom to its original form, decorating their squares with boats instead of fir trees.
The breaking of the pomegranate
On New Year’s morning, returning home from church, the householder keeps a pomegranate in his pocket. According to custom, he must ring the doorbell and not open the door himself with his key, as he should be the first one to enter his house, for good luck. Entering the house, he breaks the pomegranate behind the front door, that is, he throws it down with force, so that it breaks into pieces and its seeds are thrown everywhere. As strong and beautiful the pomegranate seeds are, so happy and blessed will be the days that the new year will bring with it.
Santa Claus and the cake
In Greek tradition, New Year’s Day is inextricably linked with the feast of Saint Basil, a humble Greek saint with a black beard and dark poor cassock, who comes from Caesarea in Cappadocia to bless our households and receive his share of the cake that Greek families make in his honor. According to tradition, the custom of the pie came from Basil the Great, when in order to protect Caesarea in Cappadocia from an invasion, he made a fundraiser and collected gold coins and other valuables, to give them to the enemies, so that they do not plunder his territory. However, the enemy eventually failed to invade Caesarea and the valuables remained. Then, Basil the Great told Caesarea people to make small pies – buns, in which they should put a gold coin, or something else from all the valuable things that had been collected. Afterwards, those pies were distributed to everyone.
Carols
Carols are folk songs with Byzantine roots that are sung every year mainly on the eve of major religious holidays, such as Christmas, New Year and Epiphany. The carols are mainly sung by children, either individually or in groups, who come to houses, shops, public places with the accompaniment of a traditional iron triangle, but sometimes that of other musical instruments. The main purpose of these songs is to offer wishes. The tip is either in money (today) or in products (in the past). There are various variations of carols according to different Greek regions.
The Christ Wood
In northern Greece, especially in villages of Macedonia, the householder looks for and carefully chooses the most beautiful, strongest and thickest wood of pine or olive, the so-called ¨Christwood¨, for the eve of the holidays. This wood is intended to burn continuously in the fireplace of the house from Christmas to Epiphany. According to tradition, as the ¨Christwood¨ burns, Christ warms himself in the cold cave of Bethlehem. Therefore, before the ¨Christwood¨ arrives at her house, every housewife must have cleaned the fireplace well so that there are no remnants of old ashes. The chimney must also be cleaned with great care, so that the teasing gnomes cannot find a way to enter the house to annoy people, as traditional Christmas tales narrate. On the night of Christmas Eve, when the whole family is gathered around the fireplace, the householder lights the new fire and then places the ¨Christwood¨, wishing that it will last burning throughout the twelve days of the holidays.
