In Greece, as in most parts
of the world, Christmas is regarded as one of the most – if not the most
– solemn festivities of the calendar. This is particularly true for children,
and we will soon comprehend why. As a matter of fact in every city and village
of Greece, on Christmas eve children form small groups, walk around the streets
going from house to house singing special carols that may vary from one
district to another. While singing, the children beat on little drums and iron
triangles. These carols are known as κάλαντα
(kŕlanda), a term derived from the Latin word calendae. This going from
house to house and, as we shall see shortly, the disguising and masquerading
rituals date back to a very ancient fertility magic, and are a continuation of
an ancient tradition which can be traced back to pagan festivals held in the
winter, in particular the Calendae,
the most important celebration in the Roman calendar. One of the main elements
of these feasts was the masquerade, introduced from Greek worship, and
specifically the Dionysiac cult cycle.
For those interested in
linguistic geography, it is worth mentioning that in Siatista and other areas
of Western Macedonia, for example, the word kŕlanda has been transformed
into kolianda. Moreover the meaning of this term has expanded to include
not only the carols, but also the special cakes that every housewife bakes on
the occasion for the young songsters through the entire period preceding
Christmas Eve. Finally, on the day dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the children go
around the streets singing:
Get ready, all of you,
Get your sticks
And go to Saint Lias.
Next day, very early in the
morning, while the children are still sleeping, it is customary for mothers to
lay near the bed of every child a plate full of kolianda, a stick called
τζουμάκα (tzoumŕka), thin at one end
and thick at the other, and a small
bag. Thus as soon as the children wake up they discover all the instruments
they need for their carol singing, and rush to get organized to start going
around al day, knocking on the door of every house.
When a lady opens the door,
the children begin to sing Christmas carols for her, but may even add some
obsequious verses for each member of the household, in proportion to his status
and age. At the end of their singing, which is always concluded with the usual
wishes, as a recompense they are given kolianda, figs and nuts which
they put into their bags. In the countryside, if a housewife happens to possess
a chicken run, she invites the children to go in the house and sit on the floor
because it is believed that, by so doing, the hens will lay more eggs. In
Athens and other large towns, children are also presented with a few coins
which they divide up between themselves.
Let’s now talk about a custom
extensively widespread in many rural areas of northern Greece and in Pontos
(Asia Minor), the so called masquerade of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Although its original purpose to guarantee a good season is now dormant, such a
custom still survives in places like Karoti, Evros, in Thrace. On Christmas day
and Boxing day the so-called
Μπαμπαλιανοί
(Babalianě) are celebrated: two men – one of whom acts for a woman – with
blackened faces, wearing rough woolen mantles, bells around the waist and
carrying an image of a newborn baby, go round the village stopping in front of
every house, dancing and singing kŕlanda like this one:
We’ll have Christ for forty days and we’ll wait good-naturedly
And for forty days we’ll throw ourselves into singing.
Now that Christ was born in milk and honey,
Only the nobles eat honey, the masters drink milk
And the candles drip down at the portal of the church.
Take the pomegranate in thy
hand, wash and come down.
All the churches are tolling, the monasteries are chanting,
And little children are reading the gospel.
Forty days, forty nights
our Virgin had bellyache,
had bellyache. She beseeched
the Apostles, the Hierarchs
to go and bring apples and pomegranates,
the Apostles go for apples,
the Hierarchs run for pomegranates.
By the time they’ve gone, by the time they come
our Virgin has given birth,
given birth, given birth.
The Archangels run for the myrrh
and the Apostles look for midwives.
By the time they’ve gone, by the time they come
our Virgin has given birth
in the gardens, among the cypresses.
She shines like the sun, she shines like the moon,
she shines on this householder
In times of yore the ritual
of the Yule masquerades contained a much more unequivocal message linked to
fertility rituals. In Kastaničs, for example, on Christmas, men with a
blackened face, clad in sheepskins and carrying bells celebrated the
Δυλίγαροι (Dylěgaroi). This rite
included a basic element in fertility magic, constituted by a mime/parody of
plowing and sowing, as well as a pretended sexual intercourse between the hero
and his would-be wife.
To Christmas dinner are
devoted the most significant preparations prior to Christmas Eve. In the
countryside it is time to butcher the pig which the household has been
fattening since mid-summer. The slaughtering of the pig is achieved through a
series of rigorous acts which certainly are the continuation of very ancient sacrificial acts. Pork
constitutes the main dish of the Christmas dinner, although for some families
it is quite usual to have chicken the first day and butcher the pig the
following day.
On Christmas Eve every housewife
bakes a χριστόψωμο (christňpsomo)
– literally Christ-bread. It is cooked in large sweet loaves and in a great
assortment of shapes, with patterns beautifully engraved on top of the crust,
usually inspired by the profession of one of the family’s member. For instance,
a farmer’s Christmas loaf can be decorated with a plough, oxen, a wine barrel
and a house. Special loaves are baked for the cattle and the hens, and is
kept at home for the whole year, nailed to the wall. The loaves baked for
the cattle are generally broken to crumbs, salted and given to the animals
to protect them against diseases.
On Christmas day the whole
family sits at a table that was magnificently laid the preceding day. First of
all the Christmas loaf and a pot of honey are placed on the table by the
housewife who distributes around them dried fruit like almonds walnuts,
hazelnuts. Then it is the turn of the master of the house: he stands up and,
holding a knife in his right hand, makes the sign of the cross over the loaf,
wishes everybody χρόνια
πολλά (chrňnia pollŕ, many happy returns), slices the
loaf and gives a slice to each member of the family, who starts his Christmas
meal with a titch of honey. Afterwards everybody stands up and lifts up the
table three times with his hands. There follows a number of other dishes that
differ according to the locality. Moreover, during the blessed period of
Christmas, some people may seek out the profusion of goods in the house in ways
dominated by symbolism and unusual cult performances of very ancient origin,
like the custom to place nine dishes on the table on Christmas eve. The
holiness of the number nine is corroborated by the incensing of the dishes,
performed with incense which had been
previously kept placed on a ploughshare which has been considered holy since
ancient times, and a symbol to guarantee fertility for the fields and the
womenfolk.
According to a superstitious
belief profusely widespread throughout the Greek world, on Christmas Eve the
Καλικάντζαροι
(Kalikŕntzaroi), sort of gnomes, imps, goblins, appear on earth where they
remain until the Twelfth Night. they are up to all sorts of mischief. Whichever
calamity takes place in the houses in the course of these days, is ascribed to
the Kalikŕntzaroi. It is believed that they enter the houses from the
chimneys and let themselves go to all kinds of mischief like turning out the
fires and making the milk go sour. They also seem to be very fond of muddling
up the food in the dishes, spoiling the cakes and braiding the tails of the
horses together. Some parents intimidate their disobedient children saying they
will ask the Kalikŕntzaroi to carry them away if their behavior won’t get
better. The Kalikŕntzaroi always appear at midnight and fade away the
moment the cock starts crowing at crack of dawn.
In order to prevent the Kalikŕntzaroi
from going into the houses and causing their troubles, in most parts of Greece
resort to all sorts of tricks In the Peloponnese, for example, they throw
distasteful smelling herbs in the fireplaces or they hang colanders behind the
doors. It is believed that as soon as the Kalikŕntzaroi see the
colanders, they just cannot help starting to count the holes in the colanders,
and they get so captivated by this activity that when the sun rises without
their having finished their counting, they must disappear.
But housewives do also their
best to be on good terms with the Kalikŕntzaroi: that is why on the
night before Epiphany, when the elfs have to leave, the good ladies hang a
sausage for them on a hook in the fireplace, and throw on the roof pancakes
especially made for them.
In every house in Greece it
is also customary to cut the
βασιλόπιττα
(vassilňpitta), or Saint Basil’s cake, which is made with milk, eggs, butter
and sugar. The vassilňpitta has a round shape and after it has been
baked a coin is introduced in it. It takes the master of the house to cut the vassilňpitta:
first he cuts a slice for Saint Basil, then a slice for the house, then one for
each member of the family, in accordance with a rigorous hierarchy. To end
with, he cuts a slice for the poor. Whoever gets the slice containing the coin,
will be the lucky person of year. It is
generally believed that on New Year’s day Saint Basil descends to earth to
visit every household.
January 6th, the feast of the
Epiphany, is the day on which the Orthodox Church celebrates Jesus Christ’s
baptism in the Jordan river by Saint John. On this day the waters are blessed
and, according to popular belief, the evil spirits bequeath the earth and the
water of the sea becomes drinkable and safe for sailing. In the course of the
ritual of the blessing of the sea, in Greece, a priest tosses a cross into the
water, then some boys vie with one another to rescue it and get a blessing in
return for their action.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Greek
Tradition, National
Tourist Organization of Greece, Information Department, Athens s. d.
Thrace, General Secretariat of the Region
of East Macedonia-Thrace, Komotině, November 1994