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St Nicholas Roundabout In Limassol
KALA CHRISTOUYENNA
CHRISTMAS MEMORIES WRAPPED WITH TRADITION.
VILLAGE STREETS OVERFLOW WITH THE AROMAS OF FESTIVE COOKING.
In Cyprus, Christmas is the second most important religious festival in the Orthodox calendar, with Easter being the first. Christmas is changing in Cyprus, becoming more European in many ways, though Cypriots would still prefer to see you personally to greet you with “Kala Christouyenna”, rather than send a Christmas card. The explosion of Christmas card distribution is yet to be accepted in a culture who maintains personal contact as a respectful tradition to the island.
The Name Day of Ayios Phillipos is on 14 November, this represents the beginning of the Christmas Fast. Families often celebrate this day visiting relatives for dinner, often a ‘poor feast’ by comparison of normal standards, as the fast is strict excluding animal products. The fast often marks the beginning of winter and families commence the preparation for Christ’s Birth.
In the villages, maintaining tradition, families rear chickens, ducks and more recently turkeys with a pig being well fed all year round for slaughter in the autumn. The head and legs are often used for ‘zalatina’ (brawn), the intestine together with ‘minced meat’ and a little fat make ‘loukanika’ (sausages). Long strings of loukanika are made marinating the meat with red wine and herbs for 40 days, then before hanging to dry, smoking them over the fireplace using a special kind of scented leaf called ‘shonis’ or another called ‘xistarka.’ The rest of the pork meat is kept in special glazed clay pots called ‘koumnes’, covered with a thick layer of lard for preserving. The liver and fat are used to make ‘kaourmas’ and in past years when there was no refrigerators, kept in the coolest place being the cellar.
As Christmas Day approaches, women traditionally make festive ‘psomi’ (bread) and the night before Christmas Eve, she ‘takes prozymi’ (to prepare the dough) and early on Christmas Eve morning, well before sunrise, she makes a large loaf of bread which is especially dedicated to the birth of Jesus. The loaf is decorated with pieces of dough, cut into a filigree lace shape using special scissors.
On Christmas Eve, very early in the morning, another traditional dish ‘koumoulla’ is made, the recipe dates back generations and prepared for a variety of occasions. Made out of wheat, pomegranate seeds, blanched almonds and sesame and served in small bowls. At Christmas it is traditional to prepare s epical dish to feed to the animals of the house and especially the chickens that would be blessed in hope if laying many eggs during the forthcoming year.
Amongst the festive food, kourambiedes (shortbread) and melomakarona (honey dipped biscuits) for the children are made and unexpected visitors, with some loukoumades (small deep fried balls of dough) for the ‘skalapoundarous’ (elves). According to local tradition and belief, the elves come to Cyprus on Christmas Eve and stay for 12 days of Christmas bringing with them all sorts of mischief and bad luck. To encourage them to leave, treats like loukoumades are tossed onto roofs of village homes.
Olive tree branches decorate the doors and windows of homes to keep away potential bad luck and to avert the ‘evil eye’ as New Year approaches with superstition stating that everyone must guard against bad luck, family members still wear new clothing to ensure protection. Finally when the Holy Night arrives, the festive table is abundant with food, chicken, pork, sausages, avgolemoni soup (chicken and rice soup with lemon and eggs), the christopsomo bread, good wine and a variety of sweet honey dripping pastries. After the Christmas Eve service, the whole family sit and dine together, with Father saying the blessing prior to commencing the feast. After 50 days of fasting, everyone eats well especially tasting good with foods that are often only prepared for celebration dining, weddings or Baptisms.
Children arrive to sing Kalanta, the special Christmas song referred to the birth of Christ, the lyrics are written in Cyprus dialect and the singers often accompanied by local village Musicians. After the singing stops, the singers wish the family ‘good luck and good health’ and are rewarded with freshly baked cookies before leaving for the next house.
With the demands of the 21st century and women now working, endeavouring to juggle their housewife role with that of the modern career results in having little or no time to prepare traditional foods. Recent trends have seen families dine out at hotels and restaurants during the festive period, though research is providing good evidence that efforts to revive traditions are in force. Women are now realising that Grandmother’s festive cooking book and teachings of cooking through generations keep the Christmas of ‘yesterday’ alive and the family bond together.
Freelance Writer: Janice Ruffle. janiceruffle2005@yahoo.co.uk
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