3rd Gymnasium of Corinth

Greek Customs and

APPLE

The bride to be in Thrace, all dressed up, expected

the groom before the wedding in front of her house,

holding an apple. When family, friends and neighbors

were gathered, the bride threw the apple to the

crowd. If a man caught it, the first child of the couple

would be a boy and if it was caught by a woman, the

first child would be a girl.

BACALHAU…ALLA GRECA

The 25th of March is a national holiday for Greek people commemorating the start of the Greek Revolution in 1821 which coincides with the Annunciation of Virgin Mary. The traditional dish of the day is bakaliaros skordalia, fried cod fish served with skordalia which is a delicious garlic puree.

BERGAMOT

In many Greek regions, women make a delicioustraditional sweet with bergamots, called “ bergamot spoon sweet”.

CABBAGE

On Christmas Day, on the Ionian Islands, especially Cephalonia, women cook a special meal made of pork, cabbage and cauliflower, called “poutrida”.

DARK CHOCOLATE

At Easter, godparents offer their godchildren a special chocolate egg or rabbit.

EGG

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On the last Sunday of the carnival, in a town called Kastoria, in the north of Greece, people tie a thread up to half a meter long to the end of a rolling pin. At the end of the thread they tie a well-boiled, peeled egg. The egg spins quickly from mouth to mouth among the people who play. The winner is the person who manages to grab the egg with their mouth. According to the custom, the egg is symbolic, as with the egg, the mouth closes during Lent and opens again on Holy Saturday. On that day, after the Resurrection takes place, people play the game of ‘tsougrisma’,trying to crack each other’s red egg.

FIG

In the past, Greek people used to have an unusual kind of calendar. Lent was symbolized as a woman with 7 paper legs standing for the seven weeks left until Easter. Each week, people cut off one leg of the “Lady-Lent” . When the last leg was cut, people wrapped it in paper and hid it in a dried fig. They put the fig in a bowl, among other dried fruit, and the person that happened to find it, was considered as very fortunate.

GARLIC

On May Day, on the Cycladic island of Serifos, people create a traditional wreath made with flowers, garlic, nettles and barley .

HONEY

As honey has been considered since Ancient times the symbol of fertility, on the island of Crete, after the wedding, the couple offers the guests a delicate traditional sweet called xerotigana .This lovely crunchy treat is made of a fried thin pastry sheet dipped in honey.

HONEY

On New Year's Eve or on Christmas morning, in many villages in Epirus,in the west of Greece, young women empty all the pitchers that are filled with water at home.Then, they go to the nearest spring to refill them.

On the way there, they don’t speak at all and so the water is called ‘silent’.The strange thing is that they carry with them butter, wheat, cheese, honey and other foods.In this way, they want to feed and humour the... spring.

The girl who gets to the spring first, will have the best of luck throughout the new year.

LEGUMES

On the eve of the Epiphany, housewives used to make fotokoliva, which was boiled wheat with all kinds of legumes. The fotokoliva was eaten by the people and also, fed it to their livestock and it was believed to ensure good health and fortune in their homes.

LEMONS

On Εpiphany, in Epanomi, a village near Thessaloniki, people decorate the Episcopical throne in churches with lemon and orange blossoms, according to the custom of the region .

MUSHROOMS

On Assumption Day, August ,15, on many Cycladic islands, like Paros, Santorini and Sifnos, women cook the traditional Cycladic “rosto”, a delicious stew made with meat, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms.

NUTS

Children in Northern Greece, originating from Pontus, Cappadocia, when singing Christmas carols in their traditional dialect, used to receive nuts as a treat.

OLIVE

On New Year’ s Day, people in Greek villages used to burn olive tree branches in their fireplace to bring good luck to the house and the family who lived in it.

POMEGRANATE

On the morning of New Year’s Day, in the Peloponnese, a peninsula in the south of Greece, the whole family goes to church. The owner of the house keeps a pomegranate in his pocket and returns with the blessed fruit at home.

Then, he must wait for somebody else to open him the door and once inside, he smashes it against the door with his right hand (right is for luck, left is for bad luck). The more the seeds ,the luckier and more prosperous the new year will be. After that, he enters the house with his right leg and says many wishes for a happy New Year.  The pomegranate is a symbol of fertility related to Greek mythology, as well.

Persephone ,who was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of harvest , ate six pomegranate seeds which committed her to return to the underworld for six months every year.  

QUINCE

On New Year’s Day, in Pontus, Cappadocia, people used to cut a

quince into as many pieces as the members of the family. Then,

they hid a coin in one of the pieces, mixed the pieces in a bowl

and whoever got the lucky piece with the coin inside, should

wake up early in the morning, fill a pitcher with water from the

village spring and give half of this water to the livestock and the

other half to the members of the family to wash their faces and

drink.

RAISINS

On Lazarus Saturday, on the Greek island of Naxos, people used to bake a special loaf of bread filled with raisins.

SARDINES

Fishermen in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, grilled sardines on the eve of the feast of Saint Paraskevi, wishing to have good fish catches.

TOMATOES

For the celebration of Assumption Day , August, 15 in Oxylithos, Euboea, people prepare a special traditional meal, with meat, onions and tomatoes for

the whole village to savour.

VINEGAR

On Good Friday, in many villages of Crete, people fast so they eat traditional foods boiled only in water and vinegar, like boiled snails with vinegar.

WALNUTS

Koliva is boiled wheat with almonds, ground walnuts, pomegranate seeds, raisins, parsley and powdered sugar. Koliva is made for memorials, typically on Saturdays of the Souls, and according to different traditions, the 40th day after death, 3rd month, 6th month, 9th month, annually, and even sometimes just on “big” anniversaries only, such as 5 years, 10 years, etc.

Koliva is a dish with ritual significance made in remembrance of the dead. It’s more metaphor than food, symbolizing the circle of death and rebirth. The wheat kernels represent the promise of everlasting life, the raisins the sweetness of life, and the spices are symbols of plenty.

WATERMELON

For the feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, in the Cathedral of Corfu, on the island of Corfu, the priests split a watermelon and give a small piece to each religious person in remembrance of a miracle of Saint Vlassios who once cured the children of Corfu from a disease.

YOGURT

The Momogeri is a very old custom with a history going back to Ancient Greece. During the twelve days of Christmas, in villages in northern Greece, the Momogeri appear. They are seven men who get dressed in animal carcasses and disguise as the bear, which symbolizes strength, the old woman, who is a symbol of the past, the bride for the future, the horse for development, the doctor for health, the soldier for defense, the goat for food, and Father Christmas symbolizes the year which will arrive in a few days.

YOGURT

These disguised men wander in the streets all day, accompanied by local musical instruments, and exchange jokes with the crowd that follows them. If a momogeros approaches you, he won’t let go of you and will keep teasing until you offer him something. If you don’t, the momogeros will throw sour yoghurt at your face!

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