Welcome Spring - Goodbye Winter

We love winter, every season has its own beauty and nature needs the change. It wasn't very cold this year as it was last year and the year before that, but still we had our winter days to remember. Beautiful, white and cold days, by the fireplace or in beautiful winter landscapes driving to work. Greece has many faces, it is not only summer and holidays by the sea, it also has its mountains and snowed mountain tops.

Χειμωνιάτικη Χαλκιδική

Χειμωνιάτικη Χαλκιδική

 
But now, you don't have to look at the calender to understand that spring is approahing. The sun rises earlier in the morning and sets later in the evening, creating a warm feeling. The quality of the light changes too, the day is brighter and the air is warmer. The beautiful almond tree is the first one to bloom, as a messenger of the new season to come. Beautiful pink and white flowers which throw their petals in the first blow of the air. Wild anemone flowers spring from earth with their beautiful lilac colour, beautiful flower bed under the bare branches of the trees. And the olive groves, shine with their green silver leaves.

Αμυγδαλιά

Ελιές

Hello February - Pinch and punch have a nice month!

Alkyonides days

Alkyonides days, in Greece, are called the warm days in the middle of winter, usually at around the middle of January, which are a welcome brake to the cold winter weather. Alkyona is a small sea bird. The tradition says that this bird lays its eggs during those warm winter days. The ancient Greek have a myth for that.

Here is the myth:
 

Alkyona lived happily with her husband Kyikas who was a king in Trachida. They loved each other and sometimes called each other as Zeus and Hera. That made Zeus very angry. One day that Kyikas was sailing at sea, Zeus threw a thunder on him and killed him. Alkyona couldn't believe what had happened to her beloved husband and threw herself into the sea until she found his dead body. She was so desperate and so sad that the other gods feeling mercy for her, they transformed them both into birds, the alkyones.

International Day of Greek Language

Today is the International Day of Greek Language.

 

So here is a short quest, try to find how many Greek words you use in your language, what kind of words they are, what are they related to and if they ask you if you speak Greek, "milate ellinika", you can say YES of course!!!! You can use the comments. Ευχαριστώ!

 

 It's been a year since we started this blogspot for our project. It was February and we welcome a new February. 

 

 

 Local customs and traditons

One of the customs the students described, has a ritual called "Piperou". It is very old and it takes place early in the summer. The purpose of that ritual is to ask for rain, to water the fields and crops, during the hot and dry summer season. The ritual is as it follows: A you ng lady is dressed in leaves and flowers and walks around the village followed by otherwomen and they sing the "Piperou" song asking for rain. As she walks by the houses, the villagers throw water on her as if it was rain. The procession ends at the seaside where they sing and dance all together, traditional songs and dances.

             

Another custom is called "Ai Giannis Klidonas". It also take place in the summer and it dates back to the antiquity. The ritual involves the lighting of a big fire for catharsis. A day before we celebrate St.John - Ai Giannis in Greek - all unmarried girls go to thecentral square of the village, they fill a big jar, pitcher, stamna, with the "unspoken water". They carry this water, silent, and without laughing, and they place it in a cicle made of stones and flowers, in the central square of the village. Inside their jar, they place a personal object such as a ring and they cover it with a red cloth and seal it with a string. They sleep at night with their jar in their minds, hoping to dream their future husband. The next morning they go to church and have celebrations.

                  

Another custom takes place in July the 20th when Prophet Elias is celbrated. There is an all nigh celebration and the other day there is a festival where people eat fish (sardines) and drink wine.

There are also many festivals and one of the is the Sardine Festival. In Ierissos, traditionally, there are many fishermen and the sardines from Ierissos are famous all over Greece. They eat sardines, dance and sing traditional Greek dance and songs.

  

A traditional profession in Ierissos is shipbuilding. They are excellent shipbuilders and experts in ther craft. They get orders from all over Greece.

    

Cultivating olives is traditional in Greece and in Chalkidiki area too. Olive groves dominate the landscape with their beautiful silver green leaves, producing excellent quality of olives and extra virgin olive oil. The cultivation of the olive trr dates back to the antiquity. The winners of the ancient Olympic games were given a wreath of olive leaves, the sacred tree of the ancient godess Athena.

 

There are many customs and traditions, national or local, which date back to the antiquity and have been adapted to the Greek Orthodox Christian religion.

This season, February, start the celebrations of the Carnival, which dates back to the Dionyssian feasts. It is a period that people dress up in costumes, drink wine and eat meat (sausages, souvlakia, paedakia, brizoles - names of meat dishes). It is a short peoriod which ends in Shrove Monday, when the forty days lent before Easter, begins. It is deeply connected to the beginning of Spring and the revival of Nature.

 

These are only a few information about customs and traditions in our place and our country. We hope yo find them interesting.