Christmas in Greece
About a month before Christmas shopkeepers in Greece start decorating their shop windows. At the beginning of December Greek families decorate the Christmas trees in their houses. This is also the time when students put paper decorations in their classrooms at school and decorate the school Christmas tree.
All Greek schools close on the 23rd of December for the Christmas holidays. Usually a celebration takes place in which students present Nativity plays and sing Christmas songs. On Christmas and New Year’s Eve children go from door to door singing carols and people give them money or a treat.
On Christmas Day in the morning Greek people usually go to church and then they have the traditional Christmas lunch with stuffed turkey or chicken and red wine. Christmas is a time when Greek families gather together and have fun or relax.
Two very popular sweets which Greek people like to eat during this period are “kourambiedes” and “melomakarona”.
Children really look forward to getting their presents from Santa Claus or Agios Vasilis in Greek. This takes place on the night of New Year’s Eve. On New Year’s Day they are very excited to open their presents when they wake up in the morning. The first person who comes to your house on New Year’s Day must use his right foot to enter because this is believed to bring good luck. This is called “podariko” in Greek. On the same day, people also cut and eat a special cake called “vasilopita” (Agios Vasilis’cake). In it there is a hidden coin and the person who finds it is the lucky one.
On the 6th of January Greek people celebrate the Epiphany. The priest throws a cross into the sea or a local river and some people dive trying to catch it because this is considered to be a blessing.
The Christmas holidays last for two weeks and students return to school on the 8th of January.