Christmas is a festival imbued with beauty and hope. With the arrival of the Christmas and New Year holidays, the festive atmosphere is growing stronger. The Christmas tree in Athens, Greece, has been lit, festive lights are hung along the streets, and shops are playing Christmas carols. Have you and your family made plans for a getaway? Come to Greece and experience a unique Christmas atmosphere with your family!
Greek Christmas Traditions:
Pothariko (The First Foot or First Step)
One of the New Year's traditions is that at midnight, a child goes outside the house, throws a pomegranate against the doorstep with great force to ensure it shatters, and then enters the house with their right foot. This is believed to bring good luck to the family.
Greek Christmas Carols
Christmas carols are an ancient custom in Greece with a long history that has remained almost unchanged to this day. In Greece, they are known as Calanda. Children are divided into two or more groups and sing carols around houses, usually accompanied by triangles, guitars, harmonicas, and accordions.
Greek Christmas "Elves"
This refers to a red hat; it is said that if you wear it to sleep at night, besides sleeping soundly and staying warm, you will find gifts from your loved ones inside the hat the next day.
Greek Christmas Boats
Do not be surprised if you see a lit-up wooden boat in a Greek home during Christmas. Because Greece has a long history of maritime civilization, Greek women and children decorated small boats to express their gratitude to God for allowing their husbands and fathers to return safely from the sea. This ancient tradition continues to this day.
Greek Christmas Yule Log
People burn logs in the fireplace for 12 consecutive days to ensure that evil spirits do not enter through the chimney. The "Yule log" is usually huge, placed at the base of the chimney, and kept burning or smoldering throughout the period from Christmas to Epiphany. Hyssop, dandelion, and asparagus are hung by the fireplace to ward off spirits. Some families leave meat out for Santa Claus, which seems more substantial than milk and cookies.
Greek Christmas Tree
Nowadays, almost every Greek family buys a Christmas tree and decorates it, whether it is a real tree or an artificial one. They are usually decorated a few days before Christmas and kept until Epiphany on January 6th.
Greek Christmas Fasting
For believers, there is a 40-day fasting period before Christmas. During these 40 days, believers do not eat any animal meat, dairy, or eggs. Many people firmly believe that fasting is beneficial to physical health, so they choose to follow it on certain days. At the end of the fasting period, people enjoy special Christmas desserts.
Greek Christmas Feast
The traditional Christmas feast consists of turkey or roast goose stuffed with rice, pine nuts, chestnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Roast pork with kale or cauliflower is another popular choice, a pairing that dates back to the early Christian era. Family is a very important element in Greek culture; accordingly, the Christmas feast is usually extremely sumptuous, often featuring two or more main courses, accompanied by side dishes such as roasted potatoes and roasted vegetables.
Greek Double Holiday Tourism
Want to spend Christmas in Greece? If you haven't booked a hotel in advance, your plans to travel with your family might be forced to fall through.
According to Greek media reports, popular winter tourist destinations in Greece are currently at full capacity, and hotels in these hotspots are basically fully booked.
Experts predict that during the holidays, hotels in traditional winter tourist hotspots such as Ioannina, the Epirus region, Mount Pelion, and Drama will be operating near full capacity.
Data shows that hotel occupancy in Ioannina during Christmas and New Year will reach over 75%, and in Drama, it will even be as high as 95%. Hotel occupancy in areas like Mount Pelion and Volos will also reach over 80%, including popular tourist destinations such as Portaria, Makrinitsa, and Milies.
Angelos Kallias, President of the Drama Hotel Association, stated in an interview with the media that the local Christmas theme park "Oneiroupoli" is very popular with tourists, and the arrival of large numbers of visitors will cause hotels in Drama to be "overcrowded." In addition, hotels outside the city of Drama are expected to reach 75% occupancy, with most of these people being tourists coming to experience skiing on Mount Falakro.
Leonidas Spyropoulos, General Manager of the Kalavryta Ski Center on Mount Helmos in the Peloponnese, Greece, said that the ski center is working with local hotel associations to provide accommodation for tourists at 30 euros per night. According to Spyropoulos, last year, this ski center, which can accommodate 3,000 people, reached full capacity.
Meet in Winter, Cross the Ocean, and Come to Greece for a Vacation
Take advantage of the holiday to stay with your family in a seaside garden villa on Lefkada Island, Greece. With mountains behind and the sea in front, overlooking the blue ocean, celebrating Christmas and welcoming the New Year in the peaceful and quiet candlelight, all the toil and strife fade into calm, immersing yourself in the romantic style of the Aegean Sea—it is truly comfortable.
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Worldway European Investment Immigration Milestones
1. In 2011, introduced the Cyprus Investment Citizenship Program to China, opening the first year of European Investment Immigration;
2. In April 2013, partnered with the Embassy of Portugal in China to introduce the Portuguese "Golden Residence Permit Program" to China, starting a wonderful journey of Portuguese Investment Immigration;
3. In July 2013, partnered with the Greek Embassy in China to hold the launch ceremony for "Greek Property Investment Immigration" in China;
4. Early to propose the "2013 European Immigration Year," successfully held large-scale "European Property Exhibitions" with Europe as the theme in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Qingdao, and the trend of European investment immigration swept across China;
5. In 2013, Worldway Group initiated the "Shanghai Declaration," signed by developers and lawyers from many European countries, to standardize the model for the European property investment immigration industry;
6. In 2014, the "Paphos Night" event held by Worldway Group in Beijing and Shanghai was one of the earliest investment and cultural exchange events in China with a European city as the theme;
7. In 2018, Worldway Group successfully hosted the first large-scale China-Europe forum organized by a non-governmental organization in China—the 2018 China-Europe Trade and Investment Forum. Ambassadors, ministers, counselors, and other officials from 18 European countries, including Malta, were invited to attend, jointly creating a wonderful event with multiple angles, dimensions, and values, which once again confirmed Worldway Group's good government relations and extraordinary brand strength.
8. In 2018, early to partner with the Moldovan government to introduce the "Moldova Investment Citizenship Project" to China, and successfully held the launch ceremony for the Moldova Investment Citizenship project in China.
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