History - Tradition

"To taisma tis vrysis" (The ‘feeding’ of the water fountain")

The young girls, the dawn of Christmas and the New Year's Eve in other places, go to the closest water fountain "to steal the ‘silent’ water" (which is called like this because nobody say a word all the way). They rub the water fountains of the village with butter and honey, hoping that as the water runs as the house will have success and prosperity at all the new year and their life to be sweet. In order to have a good harvest, when they get there, they "feed" it, with various delicacies such as butter, bread, cheese, legumes or olive branch. Whoever would go first to the water fountain, she would be the happiest one all year long. Then, they throw three pebbles and a bush leaf in a pitcher, "steal water" and return to their homes again without talking until they all drink from the ‘silent’ water. With the same water, they sprinkle all four corners of the house, while they scatter the three pebbles at home.

«Babalouria»

In Livadi of Elassona, on the New Year's Eve, children go out on the streets singing the New Year’s carols and shouting "Survasso". On the New Year's Day, the visitor can see the "Babalouria" on the street. "Babaluria" is a New Year's custom, which has its roots in Dionysian worship and revives in nowadays, too. Their suit consists of the "salvari", a woolen white trouser, which is fastened in the waist with a woolen white belt. The shirt that they are used to wear on is usually white with wide sleeves like that of the evzones (tsoliades). They wear white garters and ‘tsarouhia’ (shoes worn as part of the traditional uniform of the Greek guards known as Evzones) on the legs and in the middle wear a thick woolen cloth, folded several times, where the large and heavy bells tie up. On the head, they wear a special mask, made of an animal fleece, the so-called "fullina". This mask has a white or black color and has three openings, two in the eyes and one in the mouth. They hold a wooden convex sword in their hands that completes the costume of each "Babalouri".

The "Babalouria" are now ready and wait for the Mass to end up for sprouting on the streets. Along with them, there is always another person who is called "adelfogyrtis" who holds a piggy bank and picks up the money that the people offer. Even before the New Year's Mass is over, the "Babalourithes" have taken their seats outside the three parishes of the village. When people get out of church they feel very surprised as they cross the sword in their midst and leave no one to pass if they do not put money on it. Once people give the money, the ‘adelfogyrtis’ takes them and wishes them having a nice New Year. After the church, the "Babalouria" go to the square, and with the loud noise that their bells cause, they draw the attention of local and foreign visitors. Leaving from there, they visit all the café of the village and then they sprout to the streets until late at night. This custom is meant to drive out evil spirits, and be quiet and joyful all the new year long.

At the noon of the New Year's Day, in all houses, the meat pie with the golden flour, the straw and the yew are cut in as many pieces as the family members. Anyone who finds the flurry is considered the lucky one of all the New Year long and is said to live rich. Anyone who finds the straw says that she will marry a farmer and whoever finds the yew will marry a shepherd.
 

«The Gourounochara»

One of the most important Christmas customs in many regions of Greece and especially in Thessaly is the ‘gourounochara’ or the ‘grounochara’.

It is said that families bought the pig since May and maintained it with pumpkins and bran in water or in the river. The pig was necessary for a farmhouse, as they take the fat, the meat and the sausages from it and make the ‘gournotsaroucha’. It was a disgrace to the house that did not have a pig, as it was considered to be paraded, poor, and untidy.

The preparation for the slaughter of the pig was carried out with great care; for every slaughter of a large pig, 5-6 men were required, followed by a feast until dawn, while the same procedure was repeated again the next and the following day. Families, usually relatives, set the order in which day its pig would be slaughtered.

As all the work has as a result the feast and the joyness, that is why the day was established as "gourounochara or grounouchara". When they were inviting someone this day, they did not say, "Come on, let's kill the pig," but "come on, we have ‘gourounochara’." The slaughter of the pigs did not coincide with the same dates in all the regions. In some regions, they were slaughtered 5-6 days before Christmas and in others, it started from Christmas and onwards, depending on the company. Most of the pigs were slaughtered on the 27th of December, on St. Stephen's Day. This is why this celebration was called "grounostephanos or gourounostephanos". There are also small regions that they were slaughtered pigs for a month or more, after Christmas.

According to the custom, a housewife gave a small amount of burning ash and incense to the slaughterer, who, since he was incensed by the workers and all others, for having the blessing of Christ and disappearing the goblins, he poured the ash with the incense on the pig's throat, for being its meat blessed and good. Another one took a little blood and put it on the face of the little children in order to be strong, flea resistant, ill-treated, and not being affected by the evil spirits. The men, then, sowed the pig, and the skin, after salting it, doubled it to four and held it to make the ‘gournotsaroucha’ for their summer jobs.

After the pig’s scratching, it was starting the cutting of the fat (pasto), for cutting the meat into small pieces later. This fat, after it melted it first, put it in containers of oil or petroleum and, after frosting, it was kept almost all year round. The inhabitants of Thessaly used it all year round and almost in all foods. There were cases where many people did not replace it with anything else. Even in the summer, they used fat in their foods as they considered it as their own production and therefore cheap, as opposed to the oil that they bought half oke or an oke in order to spend for one and two months. Also, many poor families did not buy any oil and did not even know what its color is.

Then, they cut the meat and put the pieces in salt, which had them for food almost during the winter and cooked them with frumenty (‘trachanas) and gruel. They also made sausages cutting the leeks into small pieces and they had them ready for filling the sausages.

After the meal, the men cut the meat on a wooden board with scissors, and then they mixed the meat with the grated leeks, put it in a bronze pot and boiled them, as they threw oregano, pepper and salt at the same time. Then, they passed the sausages through a wooden beam and hung them to dry.

At noon, the wooden board was ready for food, with local wine. They were drunken tsipouro at the time of work.

Afterwards, the men were leaving for their homes, but in the evening they returned to the house of the housekeeper to eat and enjoy the ‘fruits’ of their effort. The women had ready the foods, like pies - usually with cheese-stewed bones, grilled meat and plenty of wine from the vine. At midnight and after many songs and joyness, as well as greetings to the housekeeper, they were leaving for their homes.

The custom was maintained until 1940. It continued, of course, later, until 1955, but the great events, as Occupation and Civil War, broke the enthusiasm and overturned a traditional custom that lasted for many centuries.

In nowadays, the custom is kept again in many villages in Thessaly. In the cities, however, it is celebrated in the squares of the districts, with celebrations and gusts, offering plenty of wine and roasted pork meat.

In Larissa, the ‘gourounochara’ is celebrated in the square of the Fillipoupolis (Plovdiv) district, between the period of Christmas and New Year's Day, because it is a custom made by the inhabitants of the district that derive their origin from Eastern Romilia, and specifically from Fillipoupoli (Plovdiv) and Kavakli, the today's Topolovgrad. The district's women cook traditional Eastern Rumelian dishes, which are very spicy. They cook them with a lot of spices and along with roasted pork meat and plenty of wine they are offered them to the guests.

The Christmas custom of the residents of Fillipoupoli (Plovdiv) starts from Christmas Eve with the traditional carols and ends with the custom of ‘gourounochara’. Groups of children visit families of Filippoupolis and say the carols, which are wishes for the master, the housewife, the children, the young people, the hunter, for the vineyard, the house and more. The traditional carols end with prayer, the group of children and the family say the prayer together. The housewife offers wine and the traditional Christmas food such as "Karvavitsa", stuffed pork gut with pork meat and liver, pork ‘kavourma’ that is cooked in fat and "armia", whole cabbage in brine, cooked with pork meat.