Hello everybody!!!!!!
I hope you had great holidays and wish you the best for the new year.
Let me tell you how we spent the New Year's Eve.
On December 31st, in the morning, the girls went to grandparents, aunts and uncles for the new year's carols.
I was cooking all day for the dinner.
We gathered at my home 13 people (my parents, my sister with her family, my brother in law and his wife and my family) at 10 pm.
We had dinner and at midnight we welcomed the new year with songs (like: paei o palios o hronos..), we cut the vasilopita (i'll tell you about that later), we drank champagne and we sat by the fire place for the dessert.
My girls and my sister's younger daughter performed a play for us:
"A mouse's New Year's Eve"
Director and narrator : Alexandra (my niece)
Santa Claus: Olga
Mouse : Alexandra
The sleeping baby: Antonia
You can't imagine how proud i'm of them.
At 2 am everybody went to sleep, except me.
I did the cleaning and prepared the gifts that Agios Vasilis brought to kids.
It's time to tell you about our Agios Vasilios (Greek Orthodox Church use for Santa) and Vasilopita.
Vasilios was born in 330 into the wealthy family of Vasilios (a famous rhetor) and Emelia in Caesarea in Cappadosia (now known as Turkey).
It was a large household, consisting of ten children, the parents, and Vasilios's grandmother, Macrina.
His parents were known for their piety and his maternal grandfather was a Christian martyr.
Four of Vasilios's brothers and sisters are known by name, and they are saints in Orthodox history.
His older sister Macrina was a well-known nun.
His older brother Peter served as bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and wrote a few well-known theological treatises.
His brother Naucratius was an anchorite, and inspired much of Vasilios's theological work.
Perhaps the most influential of Vasilios's siblings was his younger brother Gregory.
Gregory was appointed by Vasilio to be the bishop of Nyssa, and he produced a number of writings defending Nicene theology and describing the life of early Christian monastics.
In Greek tradition, his name was given to Father Christmas and he is supposed to visit children and give presents every January 1 (Ag.Vasilios's Day) .
It is traditional on Ag.Vasilious's Day to serve "Vasilopita", a cake baked with a coin inside (flouri), in commemoration of Agios Vasilios's charity. Everyone takes a piece of Vasilopita and the one who wins the flouri, take a little gift and has good luck for the whole year.(My sister won the flouri of our Vasilopita this year.)
It is customary on his feast day to visit the homes of friends and relatives, to sing New Year's carols, and to set an extra place at the table for Agio Vasilio.
In Greek tradition and according to historical records, Agios Vasilios, of Greek heritage, is the original "Santa Claus", who being born into a wealthy family, gave away all his possessions to the poor and those in need, the underprivileged and children.
Agios Vasilios died on January 1st in 379, the day on which the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates his feast day together with that of the Feast of the Circumcision.
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