What the most famous Greek Christmas customs symbolize

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

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What the most famous Greek Christmas customs symbolize

Christmas and New Year celebrations may have been ... Europeanized, but Greek tradition is full of festive customs, some of which we still maintain today. The decorated boat, the breaking of the pomegranate, the cutting of the New Year cake may be known to us, but essentially we do not know their symbolism. Have you ever wondered where they came from and what they really mean?

The Christmas boat

Strange as it may sound, the Christmas tree is a foreign custom that came to Greece from the time of Otto. Greek homes, however, began to accept it much later. Until then, the traditional ornamented sailing boat was what the Greeks decorated for the holidays. But where did it originate from? According to the Hellenic Folklore Research Center, as a predominantly seafaring people, the Christmas boat was used at coastal areas. When the kids went to sing the carols, they would take it with them and the housewives would fill it with sugared buns and other traditional sweets to treat them. The boat, though very beautiful and special, was identified with the separation of sailors from their families and left a sweet and sour feeling. Gradually, the tree, as a symbol of life ...won and displaced the Greek boat which was slowly forgotten.

The breaking of the pomegranate

With the advent of the new year, breaking the pomegranate is the first move we make to bring luck to our home. But how did the pomegranate become associated with this custom? This fruit has always symbolized euphoria and fertility. The reason we break it is to disperse the seeds and its good fortune in our family and home. It was even customary to give it to children for even more luck because of their innocence. We love this custom and we still adhere to it, but just in case you had better put a pomegranate in a plastic bag before you break it –so that you won't need to clean the house from its stains during Christmas holidays!

The christmas cake

We have associated Christmas with sugared buns, melomakarona, turnovers and New Year cake. But in the past, housewives used to make traditional Christmas cakes on Christmas Eve. The difference with the classic bread was its shape (it was round) and its designs. In addition to the dough cross that adorned the bread in the middle, the women decorated it with various designs and of course dedicated it to the birth of Christ.

The New Year Cake

 According to tradition, the person in charge for todays  New Year Cake was the well known Great Vasilios of Caesarea who found a trick to distribute money to the poor: he hid coins in pies and offered them. So that explains the coin we still put in for the lucky one to win. We may have gotten used to it as sweet and enjoyed it even on New Year's Day (of course if there is any left from the previous night) with our coffee, but in some parts of Greece and mainly in Thessaly and Macedonia it is meat pie or cheese pie. Should we try the salty version this year?

The fire that burns until the Fota holidays

This custom is dedicated to hobgobblins who, according to legend, live in the bowels of the earth and saw off it! But on Christmas days, they come up to earth to rest and to make us ... upset. This custom wants the fire to stay lit from December 24th to January 6th (the day of the Light Festival), so that the gobblins stay away because they are afraid of it.

Spraying with cologne

The cologne custom may be less well known but it was common in the Ionian Islands. As we read at in2life.gr, young people on New Year's Eve were rushing into the streets and spraying each other with colognes while wishing for a "good cut", which meant "goodbye to the old year", leaving behind the bad things and waiting  for the good new ones!

With a smile the pedagogical team of ERASMUS+ 

And ERASMUS  kids

“MODERN ODYSSEUS IN THE ARMS OF EUROPE”