- Greeks celebrate Christmas and New Year's with various traditions and customs. For Christmas, they decorate trees and boats, sing carols, and make sweets like melomakarona and kourabiedes. Greeks believe gnomes eat the children's sweets. They eat vassilopita cake on New Year's Day. - Specific regions of Greece have their own Christmas customs, such as roasting pigs in Thessaly or "feeding the fount" in Central Greece by taking offerings to springs. In Crete they bake bread with crosses and walnuts. In the past Greeks decorated boats instead of trees. - Children write to Santa, decorate trees, sing carols, and receive presents on Christmas

1. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR HOLIDAYS
by 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 CUSTOMS
by 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)!

2. CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN GREECE
by 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.
Greece
In 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.

3. CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN MY COUNTRY
by 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 FUN
by 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!

4. CHRISTMAS IN GREECE
by 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 DAY
by 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 coming
with the new year 2014!!!
The presents are coming
with the new year 2014!!!
OUR CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S DAY ROUTINES
by 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!