Christmas in Greece

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors in Greece and he is depicted with clothes and beard drenched with brine and face covered with perspiration. He is believed to work hard to reach and rescue sinking ships. According to the Greek tradition, no ships ever leave port without an icon of St. Nicholas on board. On Christmas Eve, small boys go from house to house and sing carols to the drum beatings and tinkling triangles. In return, they receive treats such as dried figs, almonds, walnuts, sweets or small gifts. There are 40 days of fasting and a grand Christmas feast is held to mark the end of the fast. Traditional Christmas feast consists of hams and bacons and loaves of Christopsomo or 'Christ Bread', which has crusts decorated or engraved to indicate family's profession and kourambiethes, a Greek nut cookie.

Christmas trees are not so popular in Greece but a shallow wooden bowl with a piece of wire is suspended across the rim to symbolize the festival season. From the bowl a wooden cross is suspended and a sprig of basil from the bowl is wrapped around it. There is little water in the bowl to keep the basil alive and fresh. Mother dips the cross and the basil in the holy water once a day and sprinkles it in each room of the house to keep the Killantzaroi or the mischievous goblins away from the house that appear on Earth during the 12 days of Christmas. People usually share few presents on 1st of January or St. Basil's Day and donate small gifts to hospitals and orphanages instead. Priests also go from house to house and sprinkle holy water around to get rid of any possible bad spirits hiding there. An evergreen tree adorns Greek homes, which is decorated with tinsel and a star on top.