Christmas customs

Before Christmas, housewives start reparations for Christmas.

Preparations include cleaning the house, dusting, shining, arranging furniture, baking rusks, and painting the inner and outer walls white.
They used to mix paint with whitewash, so as to achieve the traditional with colour to the walls.

On Christmas Day, people go to church. After Divine Service, people receive communion, which is known in the Cypriot dialect as “paskazo”. After Mass is over, people exchange wishes.

After church people go home and gather around the table in a happy, family atmosphere to eat chicken and soup or “traxana” soup, which is a traditional dish.

New Year’s customs
On New Year’s Eve, housewives prepare the New Year’s pie and put a coin inside. The pie is eaten on New Year and who ever finds the coin is considered lucky all year round.

On New Year’s Day, people go to church and when the Service is over, they kiss and exchange wishes. According to old Cypriot customs when people return home from church on the first day of the year, they should enter with their right food so everything will go well during the New Year.

On new Year’s day, the community council of Kalavasos, in cooperation with the association of mutimembered families, buys present for the children and organise a festival with Santa Claus handing out the presents on the village square.  What is more, different kinds of homemade pastries and sweets are offered to all guests.

Epiphany Day

On Epiphany Day, all housewives bake “kserotiana/ loukoumades” which is a kind of doughnut. Then they throw some doughnuts on the houses’ roofs so bugbears, or else “kalikantzaroi”, would eat and leave.
After Mass, the village’s priest goes around the houses and sprinkles people with holy water. This custom is known as “Kalanta”. He is always accompanied by a child who holds the container with the holy water.

“Sikoses”
In Greek “Sikoses” is the period between the Beginning of carnival on Sunday and the following Sunday that is Shrovetide Sunday. During this period, people used to masquerade and go round their relatives and friends’ houses. They celebrated by making joking and having feasts.

On Green Monday, people used to go out in the fields and ate mostly vegetables and no meat. This custom is known as “cutting the nose of Sarakosti”.  During this period, people did not stop dealing with their everyday activities.

25th of March
On the 25th of March Panagia Evangelistria is honoured. A great festival takes place at the church parvis and the main square, where Cypriot traditional products are sold. People from the whole of Cyprus visit this festival.

Easter customs
Several Days before Easter Sunday housewives clean their houses. They bake rusks and “flaounes”, a traditional Cypriot kind of cheese-bread. On Maundy Thursday, they dye eggs red so they can “chink” them on Easter Sunday.

Hosanna Sunday: During this day housewives take boughs from olive trees to church to be kept them there until Whit Sunday. The boughs are hallowed and then taken back to people’s houses so that the family is protected by envy and evil.

On Maundy Thursday, the iconostasis is covered with a black cloth as a sigh of mourning. In the evening, a model of the holly cross is placed in church along with a model of Saint John and Virgin Mary on the right and left side of the cross.

Everyone goes to church in order to worship the holly cross and listen to the twelve gospels about the Passion Week as well as Christ’s crucifixion and death.

On Good Friday, in the morning the Sepulchral is decorated with flowers. Young men and women chant the Dirge whilst three girls bearing pomades sprinkle pomade, and throw flowers at the Sepulchral. At night, the Sepulchral’s procession takes place around the village.

On Holy Saturday a group of young people decorates the church with flags and when the former minister Mr. Manolis Christofides finishes with the Apostle, people make noise with their stools and the black cloth fall off the iconostasis. Then all young people enter the church and run around with the priest until all the other people stop making noise with their stools. This takes place only in Kalavasos and a lot of people come to experience this unique custom. It is also covered by national television.

In the afternoon, a group of people used to go around the village and chant the hymn of resurrection. The people of Kalavasos would offer them a couple of flaounes. 

Around eleven o’clock in the evening the church bell calls all people to church, to celebrate the most important and joyful Service.

At the church’s parvis, people light a fire known as “Lambratzia”, a kind of bonfire. At twelve o’clock the priest announces, “Christ has risen” and starts with the vicars the litany procession. People light their candles from the Resurrection’s holy light held by the priest. Outside the church people will listen to the Gospels and chant.

After church people go home, “chink” eggs, and wish each other. They note that Christ has risen, by announcing “Christ has risen” and “he has indeed risen”, accordingly. They also eat a soup with chicken and lemon, known as “augolemoni”, or  “traxanas” soup and “flaounes”.

On Saturday they roast lamb and have agreat time eating, singing and dancing. A big festival commences at the afternoon at the village squar, where different traditional games are played. These are continued until Monday after Easter. What is more, a big football match is organised, between veteran football players and beginners.

CYPRIOT TRADITIONAL WEDDING

In the following section, we will get to know all the old customs concerning Cypriot weddings. The old wedding customs no longer exist.

Matchmaking

Matchmaking took place through a matchmaker or a member of the family, who talked to the parents of the bride and tried to convince them. They always considered whether the young man came from a good family, if he had some money and if he was hard working. When he came from another village, then it was the parents’ duty to visit that village and ask people there if he was good or not. Most of the times, the bride’s to be opinion was not considered.

Logiasma
At logiasma, only close relatives were invited, such as godparents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, siblings and the priest, who would conduct a prenuptial agreement. This agreement was regarded legal and this is where the dowry was agreed. After this procedure, followed a feast.

Engagement
Not everyone was invited to the engagement party. The father of the bride was responsible to provide the house, in which the couple was supposed to live.

Preparations for the wedding
The invitation for the wedding took place a month before the wedding day. The in-laws took on the invitation by offering “tsoureki”, a kind of traditional bread.

WEDDING SUNDAY
On Saturday, before the wedding, the sawing of the couple’s mattress took place. This festive custom included music played by a violin and a lute. People would eat, sing and dance. The mattress was filled with pure wool and 5 or 7 young unmarried women or women that were only married once would sew it together, while all friends and family would sing appropriate songs accompanied by music. All family they placed money on the bed, a custom known as “ploumisma”.
After that, the best men and the maids of honour would  dance honouring the sheets. Then the best men would lift the mattress and dance while holding it in their hands. They also placed babies on the mattress; in fact, they rolled baby boys if the couple wanted to have a boy first or a girl if the couple wanted to have a girl.

Preparation of the bride
On Sunday afternoon, just before the couple went to church, the bride got ready for the wedding with the help of her family and friends, her maids of honour (“koumeres”) at her place and accompanied by music (violin and lute). Her parents would give their blessing by crossing a red cloth around her waist.

Preparation of the groom
The groom prepared for the wedding at his house, just like the bride. The barber gave him a shave whilst music was playing and his best man helped him get dressed, namely put his short and jacket on. The best man always sang along with relatives and friends.
After the wedding ceremony, all neighbours were on the streets so as to welcome the newlyweds in their new home, by throwing flowers and offering them rosewater. The wedding reception took place at the couple’s home, and all their family and friends had a wonderful time.

The only custom from the above mentioned customs that still exists, is the preparation of the bride and the groom and the feasts that takes place at the wedding reception.