Traditions in Greece, eTwinning-project "Power up! Your body & soul", between France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Romania

1. Our country – tradition and special events
Christmas In Greece
In Greece, at Christmas, every house decorates a tree or a ship.
The housewives make melomakarona (biscuits with syrup and nuts),
kourampiedes (biscuits with almonds and caster sugar) and diples (fried
pasta with lots of syrup). One day before Christmas, in the morning of
the 24th
of December, all kids sing the
traditional carols around the houses of
their neighborhood and collect money. At
Christmas’ night the whole family eats
together a great meal: turkey filled with
cone and mince.
New Year's Day
With the word New Year’s Day we mean the first day of every
following calendar year. The New
Year’s Day is celebrated
throughout the world with
magnificence, splendour, various
events and a wide variety of
customs. Most of them are
associated with luck as the
treadle, the pomegranate and the
gambling.
February 21
Ioannina was liberated from the Turks on 21 February 1913 and
became part of the Greek state after the Balkan Wars. Νowadays, in
honor of all those who liberated us, we celebrate the event and take part
in a parade.
Model Experimental Zosimaia Junior High School of Ioannina
1

2. Our country – tradition and special events
Apokries (Greek carnival)
Apokries are the three week period before Lent. It coincides with
the period of the Triodion, a floating period in the Orthodox Christian
tradition of Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee until Sunday Shrovetide
or Tirini.
These days is the custom of the feast, entertainment and
"masquerade" of disguise, that has remained from the old Roman feasts,
celebrations devoted to the deduction of the god Saturn from the Sun
the Saturnalia
"Lupercalia" and
"Saturnalia" and the
oldest "Dionysian
celebrations" of the
Greeks, where
people disguised,
danced, sang sipping
wine and spirits
reached peak in
honor of Dionysus.
Clean Monday (Ash Monday)
Model Experimental Zosimaia Junior High School of Ioannina
2

3. Our country – tradition and special events
Clean Monday is the firsτ day of the 40 days of fasting before
Easter. In Greece we celebrate it by flying a kite and by having a meal
which consists of lagana ( a type of bread), halva, olives, picles, taramas (a
dip made up of fish’s eggs), skordalia (a dip made up of garlic and bread)
and haddock. Also, in some places of Epirus, the housewives clean the pots
with hot water with ash and paint their yards with whitewash. Finally, in
some other places, they burn an effigy of Karnavalos and they play many
games (e.g. donkey rides, the marriage and the funeral etc).
Holy Week
In Christianity it is the week immediately before Easter. It is
followed by Easter Week, but it doesn’t include Easter Sunday. During
the Holy Week, people tend to “fast”, which means they don’t eat meat,
cheese, olive oil or sweets, until Easter Sunday.
All the days of Holy Week are important, but there are some
specific customs that take place
on a few days. On Holy Thursday,
Christians paint eggs in red
colour. Red symbolizes the colour
of Jesus’s blood. On Holy Friday,
the bells ring all day and people
mustn’t go to work. Finally, on
Holy Saturday, people go to
church to celebrate the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Easter Sunday
On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It is the first Sunday following the
full moon after vernal equinox
(March 21). Easter is celebrated in
Model Experimental Zosimaia Junior High School of Ioannina
3

4. Our country – tradition and special events
all corners of Greece with a Greek roast lamb, breaking of red eggs,
songs and dances.
AUGUST 15
The celebration of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary is on August
15. In Greece it is celebrated in many parts of the country and it is called
"Easter summer." It is one of the biggest religious celebrations in Greece
after Easter and Christmas, and also a national holiday
There is a customary fasting period, which was established in the
7th century. Initially it was divided into two periods - one before the
feast of the Transfiguration of the Savior and one before the feast of
the Assumption. In the 10th century, they merged into a fasting including
14 days beginning on August 1. During this period, people do not consume
oil except Saturday and Sunday.
Model Experimental Zosimaia Junior High School of Ioannina
4