CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR HOLIDAYSby Fotini Mavriki (5th grade)

Children in Greece always sing the carols on Christmas Eve. Also, Greeks put a boat on some places and they decorate it. Greeks often make some delicious sweets, such as ‘melomakarona’ and ‘kourabiedes’. Small children believe that gnomes eat their sweets. In the end, Greeks always eat ‘vassilopita’ on New Year’s Day for a good and lucky beginning of the New Year!

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S CUSTOMSby Aspa Dervisi and Sophia Netou (5th grade)

We have many customs and traditions in Greece at Christmas and on New Year’s Day.

At Christmas, we usually decorate the house. We always decorate the Christmas tree and make Christmas sweets, like ‘melomakarona’ and ‘kourabiedes’. We always sing Christmas carols, too.

On New Year’s Day we are excited to open the presents. We usually sing the New Year’s carols. We always eat ‘vassilopita’, a pie with a hidden coin inside (whoever finds the coin is lucky)!

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN GREECEby Aggeliki Mavriki & Konstantina Filothodorou (6th grade)

Christmas is an international celebration which is celebrated in most countries. In Greece, there are a lot of customs that take place in different cities on different days. So, we will present to you some of these customs:

Thessaly“Gourounohara” is a custom of Thessaly. Before Christmas, for three consecutive days, three different men roast one pig each day.

Central Greece“Feeding the fount” is a custom of Central Greece. Before Christmas Day, girls go to the nearest fount without speaking at all on their way. They take the ‘silent’ water in jugs. Then, they ‘feed’ the fount with many delicacies. After that, they put bush leaves and three stones in each jug. Finally, they go back to their house without speaking on the way.

Crete“Hristopsomo” is a kind of bread that women bake in Crete some days before Christmas. They use flour, butter, rosewater, honey and sesame to make it. They take a part of the dough and they form a cross on the bread. They also put a whole walnut in the middle as a symbol of fertility. They cut it on Christmas Day.

GreeceIn the past, instead of a Christmas tree, people decorated a Christmas Boat! There were Christmas Boats in every house and children were singing the Christmas carols holding a decorated Christmas Boat in their hands.

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN MY COUNTRYby Anastasia Zourkou (5th grade)

Christmas in Greece is very beautiful. Here we decorate a Christmas tree and our houses. Children sing carols in the streets. We eat roast turkey, ‘melomakarona’ and ‘kourabiedes’. On December 31st we break a pomegranate on our doorstep, because, if many of its seeds scatter on the ground, the people of the house will be very lucky! We also eat ‘vassilopita’ when the New Year comes, we open our presents, we sing and we are all very happy as we celebrate the birth of Jesus!

CHRISTMAS FUNby Angela Gioka and Giasemi Karioti (5th grade)

Santa Claus comes at Christmas. We all sit at a big table and we eat. We also open the presents. At Christmas we dance a lot and we decorate the Christmas tree. The top of the tree has got a big star!

CHRISTMAS IN GREECEby Stella Doura (5th grade)

At Christmas in Greece we make ‘melomakarona’ and ‘kourabiedes’. We write a letter to Santa Claus, we decorate the tree and we get the presents!

HAPPY NEW YEAR’S DAYby Maritina Tselepi (5th grade)

Happy Christmas, happy Christmas,we eat a muffin!!!Happy Christmas, happy Christmas,Santa Claus is laughing!!!

Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree,the presents are waiting!!!Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree,the old year is leaving!!!

The presents are comingwith the new year 2014!!!The presents are comingwith the new year 2014!!!

OUR CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S DAY ROUTINESby Maritina Tselepi and Panagiota Vazoura (5th grade)

Our names are Maritina and Panagiota and we come from Greece. In our country we celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day with a lot of customs.

On Christmas Day we decorate the Christmas tree. Then, we write a letter to Santa Claus. In the morning we sing the Christmas carols and people give us money from their decorated houses. At midday, mum makes turkey and a lot of sweets and we eat all together at the Christmas table.

Before the New Year’s Day we go shopping and we put milk and biscuits under the Christmas tree for Santa Claus and we wait for our presents. In the evening, we invite our relatives and friends, we eat together and we play cards!

When the clock strikes midnight, we say “Happy new Year” and we watch the fireworks in the sky. Then, we cut the traditional pie, ‘vassilopita’, and the person who finds the coin that is hidden in the pie is lucky for the rest of the year!

In the next morning, we visit a relative’s or a friend’s house for good luck! Then, we open the presents and we see that Santa Claus drank the milk and ate the biscuits! Then, we are so excited and we play with our new toys!

Christmas is the best holiday!