Every Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve my best friend and I go
out through all the neighbors with our 'triangles' singing the
Carols….You know those songs that tell us about Jesus' birth and
the other about St Vasil* -the Greek Santa Claus -..
We sing in front of all houses of the village in the afternoon
and people give us money and a few times , sweets… Some of my
friends like to sing carols alone! I don't think that's a good
idea…Of course they collect much more money than us , but if a
big big dog is going to run after you , like Thomas' , and
you are alone , what will you do then ?!
* - The Greek Santa Claus -
Once up on a time there was a great king in Caesaria of
Cappadocia in the East . St. Vasil * also lived there …Once, many
enemies came to fight against that country, but the king had no
army, no money to defend his country .
Then St Vasil* had an idea and he said to the king: "We can
gather something precious from all the inhabitants of our country
like gold rings , crosses, bracelets …. We shall make a strong
army with all of these treasures" . So , that's exactly happened
, they conquered the enemy but also they had gold jewellery
left over which they didn't know what to do with .
Then , St Vasil* found the solution again.. The people made
many pies, one for each family and they baked them putting in
all these precious things. Then the pies were given to the people
, so that all , were satisfied .
Well , we did the same this year at school! We made 2 big pies
- what a mess ! Just think, we are 30 children , our teacher
screamed a bit , but it was nice! - and what a surprise when
we cut the pies ……We ALL found something in our piece!!
On 6th of January we celebrate Christ's baptism . Our teacher
said that Christ was baptized when he was already an adult, in
a river ! …Well , why should we be baptized, so young and in a
narrow baptismal font ?! Anyway , Epiphany must be an important
feast day, because we all go to the church and then go to the
sea , even if it isn't summer ! ….. There , the priest throws into
the sea a big cross , tied with a long ribbon , just to be on
the safe side! At the same time young people dive into the sea
to fetch it… Usually it's cold, but they don't mind swimming . The
winner is the first one to find the cross.
Fortunately our priest is an old man and he can't throw the
cross too far in the water !!
