(Eftalou 2004; now again covered by snow)
Today
is the day in Greece that the water is being blessed: priests go in
procession to the sea, a river or a lake, where they commence the
ritual of blessing. The water from heaven must have decided to hang
around for a bit, because the island has finally had a day of rain.
Blessed rain!
The
various harbours on the island will have been black with umbrella's
and pappas. One part of the Epiphany ritual is the so called 'cross
diving': the pappas throws a cross in the water and young men, happy
to take a wintery bath, plunge into the water to find the cross and
return it to the pappas. The winner and his family will be sure of
extra blessings. Women however are excluded from this holy bathing.
In earlier times they dipped cottons in the blessed water in order to
clean icons; a ritual performed to renovate the holy powers of the
icon.
The
orthodox Epiphany is based on the baptism of Christ. In the West
however on January 6 they do not swing a brush over the water, but
celebrate the three kings bringing presents to the newly born Jesus
in Bethlehem. Originally it was a group of wise men who saw a special
star and went looking for the King of Jews: their number is related
to the number of presents they brought: gold, incense and myrrh.
Eventually, through the oral storytelling, the wise men became kings.
During
Epiphany in the West people throw themselves into something quite
different: special cakes are baked, with a small hard object, like a
coin, is hidden inside. The lucky one who finds this (and does not
break his teeth on it) will be king for a day and get as many
blessings and luck as the
finder
of the cross. In Greece there is no Epiphany Cake: the Greek epiphany
cake is a vasilopita
and will already have been consumed on the first of January.
You
would think that the name vasilopita
is the Greek translation of king cake: vasilias
means king in Greek. The cake however is named after Ayos Vasilis
(saint Basil). Or would that name be Holy King? Santa Claus is no
holy man, although
Saint Basil is
his
personification in Greece. He however has more in common with that
other holy man, Saint Nicolas, in Greek Agios Nikolaos, whose Names
Day is celebrated a month earlier, on December 6th
(and
in Holland a big celebration). Saint Basil was a man who took care of
the sick and the poor, especially children. And he came from the same
region as Saint Nicolas (Turkey). In Holland Saint Nicolas brings
presents on December 5th,
Agios Vasilis however brings them as late as New Year's morning. To
make the confusion even bigger: it is said that Santa Claus, who
appeared first in America, is the same as Saint Nicolas. His
celebration came with the immigrants from Europe, but in America they
probably did not want another festivity day and so Saint Nicolas had
to wait until Christmas to make his appearance as Santa Claus.
The
Three Kings have been honoured, the waters blessed, a new year's dive
performed; but about one thing all parts of the torn religion are
united: after January 6th
all christmas decoration but be cleared.
Agios
Vassilis, Agias Nicolaos and Santa Claus have all had their parties:
now we are left in the realm of the Winter King.
(with
thanks to Mary Staples)
©
Smitaki 2017
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