• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Thursday, September 21, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
Orthodox Times (en)
  • Home
  • Orthodoxy
    • Ecumenical Patriarchate
      • Dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
      • Mount Athos
      • Archdiocese of America
      • Archdiocese of Australia
      • Church of Crete
    • Patriarchates
      • Patriarchate of Alexandria
      • Patriarchate of Antioch
      • Patriarchate of Moscow
      • Patriarchate of Serbia
      • Patriarchate of Romania
      • Patriarchate of Jerusalem
      • Patriarchate of Bulgaria
      • Patriarchate of Georgia
    • Churches
      • Church of Greece
      • Church of Cyprus
      • Church of Poland
      • Church of Albania
      • Church of Czech and Slovakia
      • Church of Ukraine
  • Politics
    • USA
    • Europe
    • Middle East
  • Society
    • Greek Diaspora
    • Culture
  • Spirituality
  • Christianity
  • Opinions
  • Home
  • Orthodoxy
    • Ecumenical Patriarchate
      • Dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
      • Mount Athos
      • Archdiocese of America
      • Archdiocese of Australia
      • Church of Crete
    • Patriarchates
      • Patriarchate of Alexandria
      • Patriarchate of Antioch
      • Patriarchate of Moscow
      • Patriarchate of Serbia
      • Patriarchate of Romania
      • Patriarchate of Jerusalem
      • Patriarchate of Bulgaria
      • Patriarchate of Georgia
    • Churches
      • Church of Greece
      • Church of Cyprus
      • Church of Poland
      • Church of Albania
      • Church of Czech and Slovakia
      • Church of Ukraine
  • Politics
    • USA
    • Europe
    • Middle East
  • Society
    • Greek Diaspora
    • Culture
  • Spirituality
  • Christianity
  • Opinions
No Result
View All Result
Orthodox Times (en)
No Result
View All Result

Greek Carols for the New Year – The Kalanta Tradition

Dec 31, 2021 | 12:28
in Culture
Greek Carols for the New Year – The Kalanta Tradition

Whether it’s the rosy-cheeked, hair-cropped kiddies of yesteryear clutching traditional Greek instruments and a boat, or the modern-era iPhone-armed youngsters of today donning the latest Gap wear, Greek children continue to this day – albeit several time-induced changes – to sing the carols, some dating to Byzantine times, on New Year’s Eve.

As with all traditions in this tiny land brimming with splendid diversity, so do the carols or kalanta differ from region to region, island to island, village to village. As one of my professors once said: “Where there are two Greeks, there will be three opinions.” So you can imagine how this applies to other aspects of Greek life, not to mention carols….

What Are Greece’s New Year’s Carols All About

The central motif is, for the most part, the same: wishes for love, peace, health, joy, and wealth, but depending on the region additional “needs” come forth, such as a safe return home (for the sea-faring), a plentiful bounty (for the farmers), abundance in wine and cheese (for the mountain folk), milk and honey (for the shepherds), and all these goodies are expected in the New Year with a little help from our friend… Agios Vassilis – a Greek (more solemn and much thinner) version of Santa Claus.

In the past, before the late 1980s and the introduction of Western-style (over)consumerism, Greeks offered gifts on New Year’s Day, the day marking “Agios Vassilis’” or St Basil’s name day.

Known as Saint Basil the Great, he was a bishop in Caesarea in Cappadocia – as the carols reveal – who was known mostly for his kindness to the poor and underprivileged. Unlike his rosy-cheeked chubby counterpart in the West, Agios Vassilis was tall, lanky, and thin symbolizing restraint and dedication.

So, once the bells toll on New Year’s Eve – nowadays, a bit later in the day due to modernity’s late-night pleasures – youngsters don their smiles, shiny triangles in hand, and set off to bring the good news to neighbors and friends.

In the days of old, and again depending on the territory, the carolers would also play the fiddle, the daouli (a traditional deep drum) common in the Macedonia and Thrace region, the ceramic drum, the stringed lagouto or the bagpipe. They would go door to door and after knocking would bid the lady of the house: “Na Ta Poume?” (Should we sing you the carols?”). The mistress would then say “Na Ta Peite” (Please Do…) and so the carolers would chant away their best wishes for the New Year. Once their song was over, she would offer them sweets and coins. And this tradition continues to this day.

The sheer happiness on the youngsters’ faces even today, when they zoom in on the coins in their hands, can only be compared to that cross-generational ice cream-eating face. Back then, they would run off to the single kafeneion (coffeehouse-cum-all-purpose shop) in the village to spend it on chocolate or candy. Today, it goes into the piggy bank for a trendy new iPhone case.

The traditional carols from Cyprus announce the start of a New Year on January 1 and ask that everyone follow the bright example of the enlightened one – Agios Vassilios from Caesaria.

From the isle of Ikaria herself, popular singer Eleftheria Arvanitaki performs her island’s version about wine, cheese, silver shelves, and lifelong beauty.

Greek boys carolling in Attica in the 1950s captured by Voula Papaioannou Benaki Museum Archive

Source: thegreekvibe.com

Tags: Culture

Follow OrthodoxTimes.com on Google News and learn all the news about Orthodoxy in Greece and worldwide.

All the latest developments in the Orthodox world, society and humankind, at the moment they happen, at OrthodoxTimes.com


Related Posts

Zagori makes UNESCO’s World Cultural Landscape Heritage list
Culture

Zagori makes UNESCO’s World Cultural Landscape Heritage list

September 21, 2023
Athens College High School participates in events for 100-year Anniversary of Asia Minor Catastrophe
Culture

Athens College High School participates in events for 100-year Anniversary of Asia Minor Catastrophe

June 15, 2023
The Ministry of Culture and COSMOTE “revive” the Acropolis at its peak (VIDEO)
Culture

The Ministry of Culture and COSMOTE “revive” the Acropolis at its peak (VIDEO)

May 10, 2023
Vatican, Greece ink deal for ‘donation’ of Parthenon Marbles
Culture

Vatican, Greece ink deal for ‘donation’ of Parthenon Marbles

March 8, 2023
Greek Culture Minister: Greek PM for the first time broached issue of Parthenon Marbles at the highest level
Culture

Ministry of Culture: British Museum has no legal right to Parthenon Sculptures, a product of theft

January 10, 2023
An international collaboration between Macquarie University and the University of Ioannina
Culture

An international collaboration between Macquarie University and the University of Ioannina

November 22, 2022
Load More
Next Post
Ecumenical Patriarch: The pandemic that afflicts humanity will not be the last

Heartfelt wishes to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew by the Great Imam of El Azhar

Latest News

Visit of the new Consul General of Greece to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Visit of the new Consul General of Greece to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem

by NewsRoom
Sep 21, 2023 | 14:47
0

On Tuesday, September 19, 2023, the new Consul General of Greece Mr. Demetrios Angelousopoulos accompanied by Mrs. Christina Zacharioudaki...

Talks begin between Azerbaijan and Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh after ceasefire

Talks begin between Azerbaijan and Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh after ceasefire

by NewsRoom
Sep 21, 2023 | 14:34
0

Τalks begin between Azerbaijan and the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh today in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh after the military...

Ecumenical Patriarch visited Pannonhalma Monastery in Hungary

Ecumenical Patriarch visited Pannonhalma Monastery in Hungary

by NewsRoom
Sep 21, 2023 | 14:13
0

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is paying an official visit to Hungary, visited along with Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria the...

Greek PM had a luncheon with Greek diaspora and Archbishop of America in New York

Greek PM had a luncheon with Greek diaspora and Archbishop of America in New York

by NewsRoom
Sep 21, 2023 | 13:11
0

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated in a greeting address the firm national position in respect of the solution...

Metropolitans from Greece visited the Consulate General of Greece in Sydney

Metropolitans from Greece visited the Consulate General of Greece in Sydney

by NewsRoom
Sep 21, 2023 | 12:38
0

Metropolitans Chrysostomos of Messinia, Athinagoras of Ilion, Acharnes and Petroupolis, Prodromos of Rethymno and Avlopotamos, and Gerasimos of Petra...

Zagori makes UNESCO’s World Cultural Landscape Heritage list

Zagori makes UNESCO’s World Cultural Landscape Heritage list

by NewsRoom
Sep 21, 2023 | 12:13
0

The region of Zagori, in Epirus, northwestern Greece, has been included in UNESCO’s World Cultural Landscape Heritage list, the...

Newsletter

Sign up for our weekly newsletter



Quick Links

  • Orthodoxy
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Spirituality
  • Christianity
  • Opinions
  • History
  • Press Releases

Get Social

About Us

Advertise

Contact

© 2023 OrthodoxTimes.com
digital world media

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Orthodoxy
    • Ecumenical Patriarchate
      • Dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
      • Mount Athos
      • Archdiocese of America
      • Archdiocese of Australia
      • Church of Crete
    • Patriarchates
      • Patriarchate of Alexandria
      • Patriarchate of Antioch
      • Patriarchate of Moscow
      • Patriarchate of Serbia
      • Patriarchate of Romania
      • Patriarchate of Jerusalem
      • Patriarchate of Bulgaria
      • Patriarchate of Georgia
    • Churches
      • Church of Greece
      • Church of Cyprus
      • Church of Poland
      • Church of Albania
      • Church of Czech and Slovakia
      • Church of Ukraine
  • Politics
    • USA
    • Europe
    • Middle East
  • Society
    • Greek Diaspora
    • Culture
  • Spirituality
  • Christianity
  • Opinions
  • Greek Version

© 2023 OrthodoxTimes.com - All rights reserved.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptReject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT