Christmas In Greece

Christmas is widely celebrated in Greece but Easter is still considered the main holiday.
Christmas officially begins on Christmas Eve when children walk the streets traveling from house to house singing a special Christmas carol called "kalanda" (announcing the birth of Christ and offering good wishes) accompanied by steel triangles and drums. Afterwards, the children are usually given sweets and money in appreciation.
In Greece, Christmas Day becomes the main attraction by both adults and children alike. Pork, roasted, in the oven used to be the traditional meal but in the last decades especially in the cities they have turkey stuffed with minced meat, chestnuts, rice and pine-cone seeds and on every table there are loaves of 'christopsomo' ('Christ bread'). This bread is usually made in large sweet loaves of various shapes and the crusts used to be engraved and decorated in some way that reflected the family's profession. Nowadays they are round loaves of bread decorated with the cross.
In Greek homes, Christmas trees were not commonly used in the past, but the last half of the century every house decorates a Christmas tree with a shining star on top in remembrance of the Bethlehem star and usually at the bottom there is a manger with Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus. Decorations with missletoe and colourful lights adorn the balconies and gardens.