Christmas customs in Greece Christmas is one of the most important religious celebrations. We celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.,

Children all around Greece go from house to house to sing the Christmas carols on Christmas and New Year’s Eves and they are given sweets and money in return. They sing and play music with the help of a small triangle.

At Christmas, all the Greek houses are decorated with Christmas trees, glittering balls, little bells, toy snowmen and lamps.

In the past, people in Greece used to decorate a small boat, not a Christmas tree.

The Greek traditional Christmas sweets are melomakarona, kourampiedes and Christmas cookies. We also have stuffed turkey and roast piglet for the main course.

On New Year’s Eve (not on Christmas Eve),all the children go to their beds waiting for Santa Claus to leave their presents on their beds or under the Christmas tree. It’s a New Year’s custom to bake a cake called ‘’vasilopita’’ (Santa Claus’s pie) in which there is a coin. The person who finds the coin in their piece is the lucky one of the year.

Christmas is a time of attending church, exchanging gifts, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, feeling joy and love.

You can listen to greek carols if you click on the following links:

Merry Christmas to us all

The e – twinning team Class C 1 st High school of Kalampaka