M. L. Kappa

A Greek Christmas

In the Greek Orthodox tradition, Christmas ranks second to Easter, but it is still a very important holiday. For the devout it is preceded by a period of fasting so food, unsurprisingly, plays a major role in the festivities. But more of that later.

In Greece, Santa Klaus or Father Christmas is Agios Vasilios (Saint Basil) – so gifts are opened on his name day, January first.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day children go from house to house singing the Kalanda (carols whose name comes from the Roman calendae, the first days of the month) and accompanying themselves on small metal triangles and sometimes harmonicas. They knock on doors asking ‘Na ta poume?’ – ‘Shall we say them?’ They are rewarded with money, sweets and sometimes dried figs and other fruit. Then the householders wish them ‘Kai tou xronou’ – ‘Again next year’. They will do the same on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, but the carols are different.

Of course, the quality of the singing varies a lot. I’ve opened my door to blond little angels with voices to match, tinkling away on their triangles – and, a few minutes later, to hulking, spotty teenagers who expected to be paid for playing the Kalanda on their smartphones!

As far as decorations are concerned, there is the yearly debate of the Christmas tree versus the wooden ship. Changing fashion tends towards one or the other. The modern Christmas tree came to Greece with the country’s first king, Otto of Bavaria, who ascended to the throne in 1833; it did not, however, become popular before the 1940s. Some Greeks still consider it a foreign import, although use of decorated greenery and branches around New Year is recorded as far back as Greek antiquity, and there is evidence that some sort of Christmas tree existed in the Byzantine empire.

The ship, by contrast, is viewed as a quintessential Greek symbol. Greeks have been seafarers for thousands of years and the country is still one of the world’s leading shipping nations. Children on the islands sang – and are still singing – Christmas carols holding illuminated model boats.
The Christmas ship is made of paper or wood, decorated with small, colorful lamps and a few, simple ornaments. It is usually placed near the outer door or by the fire with the bow pointing to the interior of the house. There are many symbolic connotations attached to it: love of the sea, welcome to those returning from a voyage or honouring of those away at sea and a token offering for their safe return. With golden objects or coins placed in it, the ship also symbolizes a full load of riches reaching one’s home. However, it also has connotations of partings and absent husbands and fathers, and that perhaps is why the tree has found favor with many.

Spanakopita - spinach and cheese pie — Spanakopita – spinach and cheese pie

Some households still display the traditional shallow wooden bowl of water with a sprig of basil wrapped around a wooden cross. Once a day, the cross and basil are dipped into holy water and used to sprinkle each room of the house. This ritual is believed to keep the Kallikantzaroi away from the house. Kallikantzaroi are ugly and malevolent sprites which emerge from underground to bring trouble to families.

Outdoors, streets, stores and homes are decorated with garlands of lights and illuminated ships or trees. Town streets are full of people doing their last minute shopping of presents while carols are played everywhere, adding to the festive mood. In most major towns, there are concerts, theatrical performances and other cultural events promising wonderful entertainment.

Each region tends to have its own Christmas traditions. For example, in the villages of northern Greece, the man of the house chooses the sturdiest pine or olive tree branch he can find. This, named Christoxylo (Christ-wood) is put in a newly cleaned fireplace to slowly burn over the whole twelve days of Christmas. This is symbolically meant to warm the baby Jesus in his cold stable, and also to keep out the Kallikantzaroi who supposedly come down the chimney.

A lot of the traditions have to do with food, of course. The Christmas feast is looked forward to with great anticipation by adults and children alike, and especially by those who’ve followed the 40-day Advent fast.

On almost every table there will be a round loaf of Christopsomo (Christ Bread), decorated on the top with a cross, around which are dough symbols representing whatever it is people do in life. Fishermen will decorate the bread with fish, farmers with lambs, and so on.

For starters you might get a fresh, colorful salad of green leaves and red cabbage sprinkled with pomegranate seeds; a lemon-chicken soup called Avgolemono; home-made pies and pastries made with spinach and feta, pumpkin, or meat; or cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice, in an egg-and-lemon sauce.

The main dish is pork or lamb, cooked following some regional recipe, or perhaps wild boar; or a roast turkey with a mince, pine nut and chestnut stuffing.
In most parts of Greece, pork was the meat of choice at Christmas, a pig being slaughtered specially for the occasion and cooked in many different ways according to the traditions of the area.

Last, but not least, are the sweets: Diples, crisp fried pieces of dough drizzled with a honey syrup; Melomakarona, made with semolina, cinnamon and cloves, dipped in honey and sprinkled with chopped nuts; Loukoumades, deep-fried puffs of batter also served with honey; and Kourambiedes, buttery, crunchy bites flavored with rose water and dusted with flurries of icing sugar. In the islands they also serve Amygdalota, a kind of almond cookie.

After the meal, at night, some people choose to stay home and watch a Christmas show while others prefer to party the night away in nightclubs and bouzouki joints.

For some great traditional Christmas recipes, click here.

The photographs of the lovely food were kindly supplied by Cake&Cookie co, who make all kinds of delicious cakes, cookies and deserts, and also do catering for various festivities. Go on their site and your mouth will water!

Introducing ‘Letters from Greece’

Starting with the Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens famously published his novels in the daily press, in weekly or monthly installments. He thus pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for fiction publication. This format allowed him to get feedback from the audience, which he often used to modify his characters and plots accordingly.

Now publisher The Pigeonhole has re-created this concept for the digital age, by bringing out a series of books divided into sections called ‘staves’, which can be read on a tablet, iOS device or a PC. The process is interactive, as it allows the inclusion of photographs, extra ‘margin’ notes, and commentary from readers. It can function like an on-line book club.

Amongst the books on offer, my curiosity was naturally aroused by Letters from Greece, a series of essays on various themes, all describing what it’s like to live and work in Greece today. The series is curated by literary agent Evangelia Avloniti and features a line-up of writers and photographers who, if one is to go by the staves so far, are top class.

I enjoyed all the staves, which were very different in tone and style but each fascinating in its own way; but I thought I would include here an excerpt from the first one, Florina: Where Greece Begins, because it struck a particular chord.

It is by award-winning writer Peter Papathanasiou, who was born in the northern Greek town of Florina and was adopted as a baby by a family in Australia. He describes a visit from Australia to see his brothers and combines this with the story of his grandfather Vasilios, an Orthodox Christian refugee fleeing for his life from Anatolia during the 1923 population exchange with Turkey. As Peter Papathanasiou puts it:

‘The war was over. With the return of their triumphant army, the Turks had started taking all able-bodied Orthodox Christian men into labour camps. If the Greeks dared return to march on Ankara, the Turks’ prisoners would be executed in retaliation. Vasilios was not interested in being human collateral.’

Vasilios walks from Smyrna to the Aegean Sea, leaving his family behind. He wants to get to Greece.
Reading this together with the refugees’ stories one sees every day in the press reminded me how history repeats itself and how we can never take anything for granted. I have chosen to feature the part where Vasilios arrives at the Aegean shore, after four months on the road. I hope you will be as moved by it as I was.

‘Vasilios could hear screaming in the distance. It was a sound familiar to his sunburned ears. After four months on the road, it was also a sound to which he was numb. But there was something about this scream. The timbre was higher and lighter, the duration longer. It was not a wail of agony or distress. It almost sounded happy. Vasilios tried to remember the feeling.
The seasons had changed. Winter had become spring and the rebirth had made the countryside burst with wildflowers and new grass. Vasilios had collected orange seeds from the road and stored them safely in his jar of Anatolian soil. Climbing to the top of a lush green ridge, he saw the Aegean Sea. It was the bluest, sweetest sight. People threw their hands in the air and ran the final mile to the water. Vasilios sprinted.
A sea of humanity saturated the waterfront. He arrived at the port breathless. His clothes were rags, his skin black. He could barely hold down his bread ration for hunger. He had run out of notches on his belt and started constructing his own with a rusty nail. His pockets were also considerably lighter for all the Turkish guards he had bribed with a fakelaki.
Vasilios had trudged the last hundred miles with a hole in each boot and bloodied soles. One out of four travellers did not make it. Some might say they were the lucky ones spared the scene at the docks and aboard the boats bound for Salonika. Emaciated, diseased Christians clogged every dirty corner. They turned potato sacks into makeshift clothes and old rubber tyres into shoes. Vasilios found the waterfront warehouses crammed full, saturated with refugees. The stench of human filth made him retch. There was no space to lie down and sleep, and no toilets. Elsewhere on the docks, shanty towns had sprung up, refugees sheltering in oil drums and beneath metal sheeting. Diseased cats were everywhere, all bones and patchy fur.

Boats were left floating off the coast to prevent the spread of smallpox, typhus and cholera. After two nights on the docks, Vasilios was eventually herded onto an overcrowded boat that looked like it would sink at any moment. He was quarantined for a week on an island whose name he did not know. It was there he got his first taste of what it meant to be ‘coming home’. Bowed with despair, he was spat upon by the native Greeks from their upper windows as he shambled past. ‘Tourkosporoi!’ they jeered him; ‘Seed of Turk!’ The mere fact he had lived in the Turkish state made his loyalty to Christianity suspicious. He did not fight back or even plead his case. He had neither the energy nor the spirit.

The same welcome greeted Vasilios in his new village. Its name was Florina, and it was so far into the Pindus Mountains that Vasilios could smell the Albanians from across the border when the northerly wind blew. He watched as mosques became churches, minarets torn down, crosses erected. The native Greeks were suspicious of his odd dialect. They ended up going to different churches and kafenia and even used different water pumps. The Muslims who had left were a known quantity. Vasilios’s kind, though Christian, were still alien.’

The photographs of Florina then and now were kindly provided by Peter Papathanasiou. He took the recent ones himself.

To check out The Pigeonhole, click on the name in the text above.

Bad news keep rolling in

Despite the fact that Greece is still a terrific place to visit – it’s one of the cheaper and most popular destinations for this coming Christmas – for its inhabitants life continues to be difficul. Here’s a sampling of the latest headlines:

On December 8:

*The government is studying an increase in income tax RETROACTIVELY for 2015. How the hell is one supposed to budget or plan anything? I’ve a suspicion this must be unconstitutional but, in any case, I sustain it is unjust and unethical.

*Since the train lines are blocked by refugees, trade from Asia – and especially China – towards Europe will be diverted from Pireas to other ports. Hewlett Packard, the first multi-national to choose Pireas as a hub for its merchandise, has sent cargo through Slovenia. Another blow for the economy – Pireas had been thriving lately.

*Taxes are going up on all fuels, again. Also needy families who were getting help with heating fuel are having their allowances cut.

*New Democracy, the main opposition party, is still embroiled in the fiasco of choosing a new leader, instead of actually doing any work. The cost of the elections they are planning is estimated at €800.000.

*The government have announced massive firings of state hospital directors, presumably to be replaced by people close to the ruling party, regardless of qualifications. This refusal of the political system to abandon the tradition of appointing people for their political affiliation rather than their competence is the despair of forwards-thinking Greeks.

*A family boutique was totally destroyed by demonstrators throwing a fire bomb in the Exarhia neighborhood. 40 years of toil down the drain. Time and again, a handful of hooligans manage to wreak destruction. Can they not be stopped? Five cars were also burnt, and damage done to bus stops and park benches.

On December 9:

*Another 20.325 refugees and immigrants arrived on Greek shores in the first six days of December, despite the measures supposedly taken by Turkey to process them there. During the crossing, 6 children lost their lives.

*The front pages had pictures of soldiers putting up fences on European borders, to keep people out.

*Meanwhile, Britain and France have joined the US and RUSSIA in bombing Syria, a measure hardly likely to slow the flow of refugees.

On December 10:

*Theodore Giannaros, the governor of the ‘Elpis’ state hospital, learned he had been relieved of his functions while fundraising for the hospital in Los Angeles. Giannaros had managed to get the hospital out of its financial doldrums, and had recently been given an award for this work by the Greek-American Council in California.

*The government is at war with the Troika over pensions.

*The ministry of finance has been involved in verbal jousting with journalists both because of its declaration about retroactive increases in income tax (see October 8) and because of a complicated law about people having to present invoices concerning their expenditure. In yet another surreal attempt at communicating, the ministry denies having announced the first measure (!) and keeps changing its mind about the second. Meanwhile, people are being threatened with having to pay fines for something which they are not even sure is applicable.

*The army has freed the train lines – after untold economic damage had already been done – and the refugees have been returned to Athens, with no plan whatsoever for dealing with them as winter is upon us.

Waking up every day to face all this – uncertainty, hopelessness, being held hostage to circumstances beyond one’s control – has resulted in an atmosphere of uneasiness, disappointment, and chronic fatigue. There is a social malaise compounded by joblessness and straightened family circumstances. Young people have had to return to their childhood bedrooms, grandparent are dependent on their offspring as their pensions are slashed. Yet family is the only thing that has held the fabric of society together. And the continuing good weather has at least meant less need for heating fuel…

But Christmas is approaching, and a big effort will have to be made to conjure up a smidgen of seasonal cheer.

City break: Athens in the winter

Most people think of Greece as a summer destination. The sea, the islands, guaranteed sunshine. But in the summer one is too hot and lazy to do much. You get into a routine of late breakfast, swim, lunch, siesta, swim, dinner. You can’t be bothered to move.

In the winter, you still get plenty of sunny days. Athens is a lively, bustling city, and it is easily accessible from most European countries. So, if you have a free weekend, book a flight.

There are plenty of things to do, even if the weather is bad (we do have a winter, and you might just be unlucky). Here are some ideas:

Walk in the streets. Window shop, sit in cafés and people watch, sample street food. Plaka, the old town beneath the Acropolis, is stunning. Wander around the stalls in Monastiraki market.

Visit. The Parthenon and the Acropolis Museum should be on everyone’s bucket list. But the city is full of antiquities, beautiful museums, Byzantine churches and art galleries.
Eat. There’s something for every taste, from luxurious gourmet restaurants to neighborhood tavernas. Great fish, in many places with a view of the sea. And ethnic: sushi, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mexican…

Take in a show. Films are not dubbed in Greece, and sometimes there are plays in English. Concerts, classical music, jazz, rock… Dance, classical and modern.

Athens is famous for its nightlife. Bars, discos, Greek bouzouki music.

If you like sports, you can indulge: Sailing, windsurf, golf courses. A lot of people don’t know this, but you can ski on Parnassos, two hours out of Athens. The trails are not huge, and on the weekend there are queues, but if you go midweek on a sunny day, it’s brilliant. The mountain is beautiful, the ski instructors are great. You can ski until two, then go down the mountain and have a late lunch in Arachova. Or you can stay in Arachova and visit the temple of Apollo at Delphi the next day. In the spring, you can ski in the morning, then drive down the mountain and through a lovely olive grove to swim in Galaxidi.

If you can stay more than a few days:

Rent a car and get out of town (or join a bus tour) for a day trip or overnight stay. The are so many stunning places to visit: Delphi, the Metéora, Nafplion, Korinth, Epidaurus, Olympia.
On a sunny day you can take a day trip to one of the nearby islands. Within an hour or two, you’re in another world. The islands are different in the winter, green and covered in wild flowers. It’s calm, the locals go about their business. At lunch in one of the tavernas, you’re likely to come upon the local policeman eating with the village priest. The owner’s kids will run in after school, and sit at a nearby table to have their lunch and then do their homework. The pace of life is slow and relaxing.

So, take a look at the weather report, and book a flight!

From Greece –Guest Author — M.L. Kappa

Charles Roger Clanton kindly invited me to write a post for his blog. Do wander over to read his “Reflections based on poetry, music, visual art, book reviews, history of science, first-person history and philosophical essays”. There is something there for everyone!

Charles Clanton Rogers

international Blogging Guest – M.L. Kappa

Summer Festivals

How many people associate a visit to Greece with going to the theatre? It would be interesting to know. But, time it right, and your trip could afford an unforgettable experience. Imagine sitting in the same place as a Greek or Roman did thousands of years ago, to watch a play under a starlit sky – although in those days, plays were held mostly during the day to take advantage of natural light. Some of Greece’s ancient theatres are still used for selected performances every summer. Obviously a lot of those are plays by Aristophanes, Sophocles or Aeschylus, and would be incomprehensible unless you speak Greek. However, a wide variety of high quality shows are put on every July and August during the Summer Festivals.

Author’s “self portrait” M.L. Kappa

Many important theatres were built by the Greeks, in Thoricos and Corinth…

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Autumn’s bounty

While the last of the pomegranates are splitting on branches now covered in bright yellow leaves, the oranges are ripening.

It’s olive picking time.
Soon the newly processed oil will be on our tables, and what better way to appreciate its aromatic flavor than as a dip for fresh, crusty bread. Bread and oil, with maybe an onion added – the poor (Greek) man’s caviar!

The cyclamen have been replaced by pale blue crocuses and tiny green orchids, as well as the first anemones, fooled into flower by the unseasonably warm weather.

We took advantage of this to visit the Haris Estate where, amongst other cute creatures like bantam hens and miniature ponies, they keep alpacas – yes, alpacas in Attica! They hang about, looking woolly and making a high-pitched ‘mmmmmmmm’ sound – really too adorable! I want some!

We also went to a dog show where a friend was exhibiting her champion ridgebacks. There was the usual hilarious array of enthusiasts with their pooches, from a huge white Pyrenean mountain dog to the tiniest, fluffiest, pristine Pomeranian. The dogs were all beautiful (otherwise they wouldn’t be there, I guess), there were lots of kids milling around, music, souvlaki at the canteen. Everyone was enjoying themselves.

It’s still been warm enough to have lunch by the sea – outdoors! Note the kid in a t-shirt. As we ate, someone on a paddle board went by. No wind, so no windsurfers today – but quite a few swimmers. The sea is still warm, warmer than it will be in early June.

As we head into winter, it’s good to make the most of this beautiful weather.

Speaking of poor man’s caviar and looking at the photograph of food, I wanted to mention the guest post, called Postcard from Greece, which my friend Nadya invited me to write for her blog, The Exceptional. I re-blogged it without managing to write a few words – this is the first time I’ve done a re-blog, and I must have hit the wrong button! I wanted to thank Nadya for asking me, and to urge everyone to wander over and take a look at her blog about her life as a PhD student and mom.

Postcard from Greece

magerei

“Postcard” is a monthly column featuring guest bloggers from around the world. Today we received a postcard from M. L. Kappa (Greece) who blogs at athensletters.com. Do check out her exceptional blog about life and times in Greece, it’s highly recommended! If you’ve been wondering how things change and how the Greeks cope with ongoing crisis, M. L. Kappa shares with us the individual and social choices that people make in terms of food. Let’s read her thorough postcard:

Most people love to eat – they like to go out to restaurants and cook at home. Food is a large and enjoyable part of life. But what happens when money becomes short?

In the last five years, two things have affected eating habits in Greece: the trend for fitness and the crisis. We want our food to be healthy, and we need it to be cheap.

Greeks have…

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Battered by the daily news

The morning news make for grim reading at the moment. I take a quick glance through the headlines, my stomach knotting. It’s all a big mess, worldwide. Violence. Terrorism. Domestic murders. Killers on a rampage. Scandals. Corruption. Fighting. Destruction. Climate change. Of course it’s all fact, but sometimes the press seems to enjoy wallowing in it as well. After a summer spent stuck in front of various screens, I avoid turning on the television as much as possible.

In Greece things are still looking bleak. The private sector has mostly borne the weight of the crisis so far, the public sector being traditionally regarded by every government as an untouchable holy cow. It is enough to note that salary reduction in the private sector has reached 20-23%, whereas in the public sector it is barely 12,5% – without even mentioning the fact that most public offices are still employing a large number of people, many of whom do nothing. The increase in unemployment is also much higher in the private sector. Capital controls are still in place, and every new law passed seems to contradict the one before.

While being unemployed is horrible whatever your job, surely having a vibrant market would benefit everyone in the long run. This policy has created a downward spiral: international competitiveness is at an all-time low and every means of getting out of the crisis has been scuppered. A increasingly large number of firms, including shipping companies, are getting out and basing themselves elsewhere, mostly in the Balkan countries and Cyprus. There is also a huge loss of human capital as individuals are emigrating as fast as they can get a job abroad.

Not only are people given zero incentives to stay, but often special opportunities are lost as well. For example, a few weeks ago I read that Jason Bourne’s next adventure, set against the backdrop of the Greek financial crisis, is being shot in the Canary Islands rather than Athens. Why? Because the film’s makers were put off by red tape and a lack of tax breaks.
Last year culture minister Nikos Xydakis had proudly announced that the Bourne film would be made in Athens — claiming the effect on local jobs and trade would be akin to setting up a “small factory”. But afterwards the government failed to make good on promises of tax breaks offered in most countries. So now Spanish advertisements and street signs in Santa Cruz de Tenerife have been covered over with ones in Greek, while a local plaza is doubling as Syntagma, Athens’s central square. Walls have been daubed with graffiti in Greek and locals signed up to stage anti-austerity rallies.
It makes you want to pull your hair out.

And who is doing something about all this? Not our politicians, that’s for sure. As has always been the case in our long and troubled history, they are busy squabbling (still).The government is in above its head – rumors abound they’re not going to last long – and often does not even get the support of its own party; and as for the opposition, they’re having a ridiculous and costly fight over electing a new leader.

Christmas is approaching. I wonder how we will be able to conjure up a seasonal festive spirit this year.

November Q&A: The hotelier

Ioulia Mavrelou works in her family’s hotels. One, the ESPERAS, is a dream destination on the beautiful island of Santorini, with its black volcanic beaches, its town perched high above the sea and its stunning views. The other, the MYRTO, in the old quarter of Athens, Plaka, is at the moment undergoing renovation. Ioulia’s husband works alongside her and they have three young children.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and raised in Athens by a rather conservative family. After school, I left to study Hotel Management at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne. I also have a BA in Tourism and Hotel Management from Surrey University in the UK and an MBA from ALBA University in Athens

After my studies I worked in prestigious hotels in Europe and the USA, and I also taught Operations and Administration for Hotels at BCA University in Athens. In 2001 I returned to Greece full time, and became the Managing Director of my family’s HOTEL ESPERAS in Oia, Santorini, and later a VP of Operations at Hotel Myrto in Athens.

What were the major difficulties you’ve faced in the last five years?

It’s been hard, for reasons both economical and psychological. The fear people had of traveling to Greece due to the unstable economic and political environment meant we’ve had to face and overcome financial problems. Decisions made by Greece’s politicians result in continued uncertainty and distrust, so it’s a constant psychological roller coaster.

Did anyone in particular inspire you or help you?

During the last five years, my father and my husband have been the inspiration that drives me forward. My father taught me about hard work, and to be patient; to wait and to act at the right moment. My husband inspires me to pursue things until the end and not to give up.

What are your hopes/plans for the future?

I hope that the economic situation in Greece will become stable and that we will have the opportunity to grow our company.

What are your hopes for Greece? What changes would you like to see happen?

In my opinion radical changes need to be made in order for the country to survive. Unfortunately I don’t believe that any Greek government is willing to implement those changes in areas such as education, pensions etc. or to allow privatizations and implement measures to help entrepreneurship and allow the country to move forward.

Have you considered leaving? If so, where would you like to go, and why?

We are considering leaving as a family and moving to an English-speaking country since we feel that the adjustment will be easier, especially for our children. Of course, the fact that we work in our family business plays a major part in this decision, making it particularly difficult.

If you have already decided to leave, what would make you stay?

A complete and radical change in Greece, which would force the Greek people to change their ways as well.

Are you actively doing anything to help with the situation? Is there something more you would like to do?

I feel that I am – and have been all my life – doing my part as an entrepreneur by paying all my taxes and creating jobs for honest folks.
Tourism is a major source of income for Greece. In spite of all the difficulties, last summer was a reasonably good season for us and bookings have remained steady for 2016.

How do you see Greece in 5, in 10 years?

Unfortunately I see my country in the same situation if not worse than today. Observing the measures taken so far does not allow me to be optimistic.

How do you cope with obstacles and frustrations in your everyday life?

I am blessed to have a loving family and friends I can count on, who have been next to me when needed.

What are the positive sides of living in Greece? Have you had any good experiences lately?

The climate, our extended families and all the assets we have in Greece are the biggest reasons for staying. The summer vacation I spent with my family were exactly what holidays by the sea should be…

Ioulia kindly agreed to be the Guinea pig for this feature, so any comments about improvements are welcome. If you want to see the site of the stunning ESPERAS HOTEL, just click on the name.

Author: M. L. Kappa