tradition Archives - Keep Talking Greece

Tsiknopempti: The Greek tradition with grilled meat and heavy smoke

March 7, 2024 FEATURED, Lifestyle, Society Comments Off on Tsiknopempti: The Greek tradition with grilled meat and heavy smoke

Sausages, pork, lamb and chicken chops, meats of all kind are thrown to the open fire, get roasted or grilled, while their smell and smoke fill the neighborhoods. It’s the traditional Tsiknopempti – Charred Thursday or Smoky Thursday- Greeks love to celebrate during the Carnival season and before the start …

Palaiolithic cutting tools found on Lesvos

May 31, 2023 Archeology, Culture, FEATURED Comments Off on Palaiolithic cutting tools found on Lesvos

A remarkable number of large cutting tools from the Paleolithic Period were identified and handed over to the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos by retired doctor and researcher Vassilis Koumarelas. Koumarelas handed over to authorities chisels, cutters, trihedrals, scrapers, pickaxes, blades, flakes, cores and products of their division, which he …

Epiphany and”Blessing the Waters” remains a males-only tradition

January 6, 2023 Editor, FEATURED, Opinion 12

The Greek Orthodox tradition to throw a Holy Cross into the waters on the Epiphany Day remains largely a males-only issue even in the 21st century. Dozens of men, as young as 8 years old and as old as 89, jumped into the cold sea, into a river or a …

Our Greek “Santa” comes on Jan 1 with the New Year’s cake tradition

December 31, 2022 FEATURED, Lifestyle, Society 4

Chubby, with a red uniform, and a shaky laugh, that’s how our children have learned that Santa Claus is. But our “Santa”, the Greek Orthodox Agios Vassilis, is different and comes with his presents in the night of January 1. Our “Santa” comes from Caesaria in central Asia Minor where …

Mikis Theodorakis: The Easter Lamb tradition is a “national shame!”

March 30, 2018 animals 1

Famous music composer Mikis Theodorakis made an intervention ahead of the Greek Orthodox Easter and described the tradition of roasting lamb as a ‘national shame.” In a blog post, 93-year-old Theodorakis said the tradition was “barbaric” and needs to be stopped. “Easter is coming again. The days of the massacre …

Greece’s New Year tradition: Vasilopita and the secret of the Golden Coin

December 31, 2017 Lifestyle Comments Off on Greece’s New Year tradition: Vasilopita and the secret of the Golden Coin

All over Greece, tables over the Christmas and New Year days are set with traditional food savory and sweet, mostly based on recipes going from generation to generation. There are regional preferences depending on local products and customs that one enjoys across the whole country. One of them is Vasilopita, …

Tsiknopempti: The day Greece is covered with smoke

February 16, 2017 Lifestyle 1

“I had no idea about the tradition until a neighbor pressed two sausages in my hands once and told me to fry them because it was good.” Nadia is a 45-year-old woman from Albania who lives in our neighborhood for the last twelve years. Although she is a Christian by …

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