Greek Cypriots are by nature generous and hospitable people. It is a culture thing, and the further away you get from the hustle and bustle of the big cities the more obvious this trait becomes. Cypriots are proud of their traditions, and it doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you have travelled or lived in the world, the traditions you grew up with, stays with you forever.
A lot of the traditions are celebrated on religious holidays and seasonal festivals.
EASTER (PASCHA)
The biggest festival on the Greek Orthodox calendar, Easter is taken very seriously in Cyprus. Not many follow the tradition of fasting for 50 days before Easter, but most will fast for a couple of weeks in order to be able to take communion on Easter Saturday. Traditions that have been followed for centuries by the Greek Cypriots are the making of the famous ‘Flaounes’ which are cheese filled pastries. Almost every home makes these together with the dyed red eggs and the Avgolemono Soup with boiled chicken that is eaten on Easter Saturday, after midnight on their return from church following the resurrection of Christ. Easter Sundays is celebrated in style with huge family lunches of whole lamb on the spit and music and dancing.
CHRISTMAS
Greek Orthodox Cypriots celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th December unlike the Russians who consider Christmas 2 weeks later due to the use of the Julian calendar. All over Cyprus you can hear the children singing Christmas Carols and many traditional sweets are baked, like kourabiedes which are gorgeous shortbread biscuits and melomakarouna the honey and almond biscuits. Families are brought together from all over the island and Christmas lunch is celebrated with a feast that the whole family has helped to cook. In the old days presents were exchanged on the 1st January which is St. Vasilis day, but due to modern times and world trends most people do this on Christmas Day. On New Year’s Eve the Cypriots make a traditional Vasilopita which is an orange flavored cake in which they place a small coin. The cake is cut in exactly the right amount of pieces for those that are present and whoever finds the coin is considered to be lucky in the New Year. On the 6th January, the eve of the Russian Christmas, Greek Cypriots celebrate the Epiphany, on this day children visit their grandparents and read traditional greetings.
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Source: www.propertycyprus.com
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