Homemade Pomegranate liqueur

Beside all the vegetables and fruits the Geeks like to preserve and make spoon sweets and jams out of them another obsession of ours is to make home made liqueurs. Here is the first recipe for you and others will follow. A liqueur which adds something special to the long list of your Christmas treats for your guests but which you can keep serving and enjoying long after the festive season 

Pork fillet with chestnuts and walnuts sauce

A very rich in flavour recipe with a special sauce thanks to the chestnuts combined with the walnuts! A hearty Winter time dish to enjoy with the family

Classic Melomakarona - Christmas cookies with honey and spices

Melomakarona is one of the most classic and popular Christmas sweet in Greece. There are variations depending on the region they come from and also the last decade or so more modern versions can be found like those which are dipped in chocolate. The most classic versions are the plain ones (like my mother's) and those which are stuffed with nuts - a variation that can be found mainly in the Islands. There are those made exclusively of flour and those made of a mixture of flour and semolina. What all the versions have in common though is the olive oil. What makes melomakarona special is the honeyed syrup mixture the cookies are dipped into and the texture that arises from that process. The dipped cookies are pretty soft, due to the syrup, but are not chewy. The finished melomakarono has sweetness from the honey and sugar, a little spice from the cinnamon and cloves, and a nice crunch from the walnuts. With such combination of ingredients no wonder why they are so popular

Classic Christopsomo - Christmas Bread

Lets start our journey to the various Greek Christmas and New Year dishes

with the traditional Christmas bread

Christopsomo, litteraly meaning "Christ's Bread", is considered a sacred tradition in most Greek Orthodox homes, and the care with which it is made is said to ensure the well-being of the home in the year to come. Only the purest and most expensive ingredients are used for this bread. There are different versions of Christopsomo depending on the area it comes from or on the family's traditions. Basically it is like the normal bread but with a lot of decorations on top. More often is decorated with a cross, made of pieces of dough, and whole walnuts

Diples - Greek traditional Christmas deep fried sweets

"Diples" literally means "folds" in Greek. These deep fried delicate "cookies" are sometimes shaped in bowknots or other fancy shapes, depending on the region they come from, but for Christmas a lot of people make them in a shape suggestive of the swaddling clothes of the infant Jesus. They are honey rolls, so thin and flaky that they crumble when they are bitten. "Diples" are a traditional Christmas dessert made from thin sheet-like dough. Quickly the dough is rolled into long thin strips, cut into rectangles, and then fried in hot oil. Once they have cooled, they are dipped into a hot, syrup with honey. Traditionally, warm honey is used instead of syrup, and the diples are sprinkled with chopped walnuts and cinnamon. Diples are a speciality mainly coming from Peloponnese region where beside Christmas they are also served in other special occasions

 

Greek Christmas & New Year Traditions & Celebrations

Even though the Greek Christmas is regarded by many as not so popular as Easter period, we really have some very rich and colourful Christmas traditions. The Advent period is often taken very seriously by Orthodox Christians and those wishing to take communion on Christmas morning will be expected to fast during the whole period (or at least for the last three days). Fasting means abstaining from meat, eggs and dairy products as well as oil for those who are in a strict fast.

Christmas service takes place very early in the morning on Christmas Day and people gather at the church by the hundreds. If one sees someone at the end of Advent the traditional wish is “Good(Merry) Christmas” yet on Christmas Day the usual wish is not this but “Chronia polla” or “Many Years” (which is also the Greek traditional wish for important feast days, name days and birthdays).

We normally start decorating our homes rather late comparing to other European countries ie. just a week or ten days before Christmas when housewives will start making the traditional Christmas sweets such as “Kourabiedhes” and “Melomakarana”.

In Greece, initially, the Christmas tree was not among the traditional customs. People used (and fortunately still do in some areas) to decorate a small wooden (even handmade sometimes) boat, which was incorporated to the Greek tradition because we are a nautical country and much related to the marine traditions. This Christmas ship is sometimes carried around by carol-singers on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and on the Eve of Epiphany Day.

The Christmas tree became part of the Greek tradition when we started adopting many Western customs and habits. One of these was the Christmas tree in 1833 (after the revolution against the Ottomans and when we got our independence and Greece got her first Monarch, King Otto from Germany) and then the colourful lights we put on our balconies or in our living rooms and windows in order to add a touch of festive mood and ambience for these holy days. Decorations last till January 7th, on the day of Saint John, the next day of the Epiphany.

Christmas cards are not exchanged between members of the same family living together nor among friends who live near enough to be wished in person and on the phone. We tend to send cards to those friends and relatives who live far away and don't see often.

It is usually little children who sing the carols holding metal triangles and pass by houses very early in the morning and as an appreciation the housewifes treat them with Christmas sweets or some coins. There are three different carols in Greece, sung on Christmas Eve, on New Year’s Eve and the day before the Epiphany. The carols feature different verses, although their common ground is the offer of blessings and wishes to the household. There is an ancient song from the Homeric period which can still be heard today - with small changes - in the carols they use to sing in the area of Thrace:

"In this house we came of the rich-landlord

May its doors open for the wealth to roll in

The wealth and happiness and desired peace should enter

And may its clay jugs fill with honey, wine and oil

And the kneading tub with rising dough"

 

We tend to exchange holiday gifts on New Year’s Eve which is the most special day for children, according to the tradition of Father Christmas. The equivalent of St. Nicholas/Santa Claus for the Greeks is Saint Basil. He is the one who brings the gifts and leaves them below the tree for the kids and we leave a plate full of sweets and other delicacies for him. Saint Basil is not the same person as Santa Claus though; Saint Basil comes from Caesarea and not from Northern Europe....

On New Year's Eve, when the year changes at midnight, we usually turn the lights off and turn them on again a few seconds later; this is a move that symbolizes the new beginning. Then we sing the New Year's carol and exchange embraces, kissing and wishes with friends and family.

New Year’s Day is also St. Basil’s feast day (and the name day for anyone called Vassilis or for girls called Vassiliki – not to mention the day when the Orthodox Church celebrates the circumcision of Christ). Early in the morning on New Year’s Day a child (invariably a boy) does the "first-footing", as we say, by bringing a strange plant called a “dog onion” to the house and it is for good luck. This is a plant with a few thick green leaves and a bulb that is wrapped with aluminum foil. This plant has several names depending on which area it comes from. The boy who brings this plant to the house will be given a small amount of money as a gift for the New Year. Also on New Year’s Day there is the interesting custom of breaking a pomegranate at the door-step for good luck, health and prosperity.

A special cake is eaten on this day (or on New Year's Eve just after midnight) called the “Vassilopita” or St. Basil’s Cake in which a lucky coin has been baked in. Yet before this can be found, the head of the house must first cross the cake with his knife and then cut the first slice for God, then the next for the baby Christ, followed by the “All Holy”, as Mary is called, then the next slice for the house and after for each member of the family starting with the eldest. The one who finds the lucky coin in their piece will have good luck for the rest of the year. At the meal table there is also a special decorated round loaf called St. Basil’s bread (which is really identical in form to the “Christopsomo” (“Christ bread”) eaten on Christmas Day and the “Lights bread” that will be eaten on Epiphany Day).

Holiday meals are a big part of the overall Christmas tradition in Greece; we prepare the sweets first of all, because in many areas sweets are associated with happiness and hospitality. Preparation of Christmas sweets starts usually towards the second half of December, when the festive mood is much more evident. The most common sweets are Melomakarona and Kourabiedes for Christmas period and of course the Saint Basil's cake made for the New Year.

On Christmas day the family meal usually is roasted piglet with baked potatoes, salads and soups. "Lamb fricassee" or "rabbit stifado" are two other very popular dishes. In many households they prefer a roast Turkey which is a dish that becomes more and more popular nowadays and we usually cook it with a filling containing chestnuts, pine seeds, ground meat and raisins stuffed in the bird's belly.

On New Year’s Eve and first day, there is no particular food that has to be prepared, although the table should be rich and full – prosperity is always an issue for the coming year and a full dinner table is synonymous to good fortune and richness for the household.

Throughout the Twelve days of Christmas it is of interest to note that all houses are vulnerable to a malicious type of pixy called “Kallikantzari” (sing. “Kallikantzaros”) who play tricks on housewives, put out the fire and urinate on the Christmas food if it is not covered at night. They also saw the root of a huge trunk on which rests the foundations of the world.... the myth says. When the Good comes, the Evil has to leave and hide in the dark where it keeps living and grows based on its evilness. This is what happens with the Kalikantzaroi, the little black, hairy monsters that come up on earth a little before Christmas, but are forced to go down to the bowels of the Earth before the sanctification on the Epiphany day. The legend of Kalikantzaroi is a very common legend in Greece, and these creatures are associated with everything evil and bad.

The Greek Christmas celebrations conclude with the festival of “The Lights” as Epiphany Day is also called in Greece. In the Orthodox Church this feast is important commemorating Christ's baptism at Jordan river and is also associated with the blessing of the waters and can be quite spectacular in some towns. On the Eve of this day the priest will go round all houses and sprinkle holy water to bless the houses and all those who live there. On the day of Epiphany there is the "Great Holy" service in the church. In some larger churches, in Athens and elsewhere, a pair of doves are released from the bell-tower. In the port of Pireus (and other ports around Greece) and in most islands the priest throws the cross into the sea and a few young men will dive in to retrieve it – the one who catches the cross is being blessed.

Epiphany can really be seen to be the culmination of the Christmas season. The next day is St. John’s Day (i.e. 7th January). On this day everyone called Yiannis and Ioanna (John/Joanna) has their name day and relatives and friends who visit will still see the Christmas decorations up in the home. The decorations will be taken down on 8th January. This is also the time when children go back to school – i.e. on the first weekday after St. John’s Day.