Special Announcement-be Carefull

[athenaeus]

I have to announce you my dear friends that Elfs got out of their nests under the earth last night and they are among us by Last Night!!!

As every yar they will stay until the 6th of January when Jesus will be baptised and the Holly Water will drag them away

Beware!!! They came to destroy our cookies by stepping on them with their dirty goat legs

They came to drive the little old ladies crazy by putting the fire in the fireplace off

They came to eat the tongues of notty children
And many many more bad things

You have to take some precautions if you do not want to be in trouble with the Elfs

You have to stay silent while you make cookies, especially the children...
You should not open the door without being certain who is waiting outside ( Elfs immitate the voices of your relatives and friends so be carefull)
You have to put a dry piece of wood out side your door.

This wood is absolutely anti-evil and anti-elf...

I will be back with anti-elf recipes but I have to go bake now in silence...

No singing... just dancing...

 

[kimmie]

One more thing in life to be afraid of...the Elfs!

Next time I bake cookies, I shall remain silent; I will not open the door without being certain who is waiting outside and put a dry piece of wood outside my door (I have lots of dry wood); and I will dance in silence, awaiting patiently for your anti-elf recipes!

 

[nancya]

My Christmas cookies are all packaged and ready to be delivered today! Thank goodness I got them done before the elfs got to them!!!


phew.

 

[athenaeus]

Let me send you my mail address Nancy...

 

[panini]

My elfs are all under 36". They appear in my bakery without notice. They are unruly, loud, whiny sp?, brats! They are the children of parents who are oblivious or just don't care about the behavior of their children. Most of the elves are from affluent families. In fact just yesterday, a little elf with tap shoes, danced and scratched my tile floor while putting her hands all over my show cases. Her little elf brother was busy smashing his choco. thumbprint (free for the little ones) into the floor.
I broke the code of silence and mentioned to the little dancing elf that she had missed a spot on the glass, there was a little area that did'nt have fingerprints.
A frown from her mom and a scolding by my wife, I quickly returned to silence while making my cookies.
Bah Humgug!! I'm getting old

 

[athenaeus]

My elfs Panini came couple of days earlier in Athens...

I opened the door and it was one of them standing and having the same face with me , holding in her hand a bottle of canola as gift...(at least I had the chance to taste canola)

My sister Melina who has stayed many years in the States and she adopted this frozen sense of american humor...

(Sorry guys but you must have heard the nasty european jokes for the american humor...)

 

[cape chef]

Hey....I thought elfs lived in trees and made crackers!!!!

Have I been misled all these years?

cc

 

[panini]

LOL

 

[athenaeus]

Propably you are talking about the lefs of New England, Cape Chef.
Here we do not have forests or our forests do not look at all like yours... Not to tell that we lack water.

Our elfs they are ugly, very ugly and they have goat legs.
And will call them "Kalikantzaroi"

kalikantaroi are the malefic creatures that according to the Greek Folk culture, they appear on earth the Christmas eve and they stay for 12 days, until the 6th of February that we have the great Ortodox festivity of Theofaneia the "appearence of God' "that took place during the baptism of Jesus by St John.

The existence of kallikantzaroi dates back to the Byzantine era where people use to celebrate the three major festivities (Christmas, new Year and Theofaneia) with music, songs, and masquerades(relics of ancient rituals)! Yes!!! They were celebrating Christmas with maquarades!!

Of course the masqued persons were getting drunk and started teasing people, dancing with strangers in the streets and very often entered the houses of innocent people claiming for food and deserts.

The Byzantines , in order to avoid the intrudors locked their doors and windows but the masqued persons enjoyed to find ways to enter houses so sometimes they tried even the chimneys of the fireplaces! I forgot to tell yuo the other day that elfs are entering the house using the chimney.

Some times those masquerades were lasting for 12 days and the ended at Theofaneia! That's why we believe that elfs stay onm earth for 12 days...

As time passed these masquerades, which were annoying to the majority of people because they went out of control, were related with the souls of dead people and by confusing these two perceptions kalikanztaroi - the greek elfs of Christmas period, were born.

Ancient Greeks belived that the souls of dead people sometimes during the year when they found the door of Hades opened, they returned to the world of living and they were strolling around with no control and restrictions.

The most intersting thing is to find out why those festivities lasted for 12 days...
12 is not a magical number ( as 7 for example)

Long ago they used to call these 12 days "Untied" with No leash...

What did they want to say by untied nights?

Years before fixing the date for Christmas and New Year time was not counted with the solar year but the lunar cicle. In that way one year was devided into 13 months.

As you know the use of lunar circle to count time resulted in missing days. So when the solar year of 365 days was set they counted that 12 days were raimaining and they added them to the year.

The old fashioned people that they refused to accept the new calendar they started calling these days untied, days that they were not tied to the tree of the world and they left a door opened. This was the door that kalikantzaroi were using-according to the tradition- to come up to the world.

Kalikantzaroi are one of our favourite fairy tales, of course after the mermaids but mermaids is another chapter of our culture...

 

[athenaeus]

I am trying to find elfs that look like kalikantzro but no luck so far...
I am not that good in gifs searching anyway...
I am also bored to do such things

 

[isa]

I finish baking my cookies last week. How can I protect them Athenaeus ?

 

[kimmie]

While you bake bread too! I found something on Traditional doughs of Cyprus--Liturgical Breads.

The woman who was kneading had to be "clean" and the yeast which they used had to be "clean" as well. Furthermore, according to the evidence which exists, they used "silent" water for kneading the loaves. They thought that this water, which they brought from the spring without speaking, had magic power which helped in the purpose for which they used it. If they spoke while bringing it, then, according to popular belief, this power would be lost.

The customs followed while baking the bread are also interesting. When all the loaves went into the oven, the woman closed the mouth of the oven and made the sign of the cross with the fournofkyon (the stick with which she pushed the loaves into the oven) or with her hand. In many villages, as they did with other doughs, they danced turning on the spot in front of the oven so that the baking would be successful. So that the loaves for consecration and offerings would be smooth, when the baking was nearly complete, they removed them from the oven one by one and wiped them with a damp cloth. They "washed" them, as they said. The girls there had to wash with the same cloth because they believed that was how they would become beautiful.

 

[athenaeus]

I will work on this one Isa and I will be back

Kimmie, you wil laught hard now for what I am going to say...

I am a very rational person, so I am not sure that I believe in God and things like - I think I do not BUT the role of church is very important in my country, not the way the Catholic Church is, I mean The Archibishop does not interfere in the government.
I strongly believe in tradition though and tradition in Greece is the Ortodox Church whether we, the modern Greeks like it or not.

So I have cought myself doing some of the things that are described in your text. crossing the traditional oven and many more.
I have the feeling that I preserve the tradition that way and tradition is not something theoritical but the everyday practice.

I make liturgical breads also.
And I have special vessels for those breads that I use them while kneading and baking them.
And liturgical breads, before baking are sealed with big, round, wooden seals. I have one of my great great mother which is 200 years old and changed hands from mother to daughter.
I consider this wooden seal one of the most precious things I owe.

Of course, tradition wants that only old women make such breads or women that they do not have any king of relations with men.
Bread symbolizes the Body of Jesus in or Holy Communition Wine symbolizes His Blood) so WE NEVER throw away bread in Greece.Not only the liturgical bread but every kind of bread.
I have to tell you that I am getting REALLY mad when I see people throwing bread away. 50 years earlier we had nothing but bread in this country.

Do you know what we do if we have to trow bread away?

We burn it in the fireplace!

Thanks for this passage Kimmie. I felt nice reading in a very modern and vivid forum like this one ,about things that people laugh at these day

 

[kimmie]

You're welcome Athenaeus. And yes you made me LOL!! I want you to know however that posted this much more for the traditional aspect than the religious aspect frankly.

Case in point, for the Christmas period the women also made a great variety of koulouria, which were called sesamota because they were covered with sesame. These sesamota had different names according to their shape such as lechousies or koumoulla tis Panayias, stavrokoulloura, christopsouma, zempiloudkia (little baskets), vortakoudkia (little frogs), avkotes, with white eggs, gristarkes, koumoullies or koullouropoullies, aththropoudkia or koukloudes and others according to the customs of each area. Here's one of the shapes I found, covered with sesame seeds. I just love it!!

Many of the doughs of the Christmas period had the cross as the basic element, the symbol of Christianity, while others had shapes connected to rural life and each had its own symbolism. Some of these, and especially the large koulouria with a cross in the middle, the stavrokoulloura, were hung on the walls of the house in many villages in Cyprus, from Christmas Day for all the holy days of the period, and were in a way a symbolic part of the Christmas decorations. Besides the symbolism which expressed the holiness of the days and faith in the saving power of the cross, this act is evidence of the popular conviction that things made from this flour exerted a protective power over the house and its inmates". Particularly on the days of Christmas, and during the whole twelve day period in general, when they believed that the kalikantzaroi (devilish imps) roamed everywhere, the cross protected the house and its inmates.

I do hope you will pass down the wooden seal to your next generation.

BTW, I also tried to find the elves that look like kalikantzaroi but couldn't find them!

 

[isa]

Meanwhile Athenaeus I am guarding my cookies day and night.


Are the elves looking for a particular cookie?

 

[athenaeus]

He he he

The dreadfull Greek Elves The Kalikantzaroi are coming out the minute after the sunset and they stay on the upper world until the black cock announces the arrival of the new day...

The precautions against kalikantzaroi should be taken by old women because they are experienced enough and hey know all the possible tricks that tose creatures may invent in order to access cookies , sausages etc etc

During the 12 days that they were on the Earth, in the villages the light up big fires to keep them away.

But to the houses they focised their anti-elves recipes in the fireplace and in the door...

The grandmother should take some coals frm the fireplace , put some incense on the top and just carry about in every room this inscense.

In he doors they made a cross out of honey and they put salt on it

Also a dry wood kept them away. You know elves are not so smart. They are over-confident and they are caught easily.
You just had to be experienced

As a say this world is not for the youngs. You have to wait until you ripe in order to have serious chances to survive

Well Isa if they are elves that are used to nmy cookies then they prefer the sesame , boiled ones and those that are made with my pure and beloved olive oil.

 

[athenaeus]

He he he

The dreadfull Greek Elves The Kalikantzaroi are coming out the minute after the sunset and they stay on the upper world until the black cock announces the arrival of the new day...

The precautions against kalikantzaroi should be taken by old women because they are experienced enough and hey know all the possible tricks that tose creatures may invent in order to access cookies , sausages etc etc

During the 12 days that they were on the Earth, in the villages the light up big fires to keep them away.

But to the houses they focised their anti-elves recipes in the fireplace and in the door...

The grandmother should take some coals frm the fireplace , put some insect on the top and just carry about in every room this insect.

In he doors they made a cross out of honey and they put salt on it

Also a dry wood kept them away. You know elves are not so smart. They are over-confident and they are caught easily.
You just had to be experienced

As a say this world is not for the youngs. You have to wait until you ripe in order to have serious chances to survive

Well Isa if they are elves that are used to nmy cookies then they prefer the sesame , boiled ones and those that are made with my pure and beloved olive oil.

If I have time I want to narrate you what we do in the New Year . Because this is when the great fun is

As you understand you cannot let everyone to be the first one who will step your front door in New Year...

 

[nancya]

I think I'm safe....I've given all my cookies away. Any hints for the weather, Athenaeus???

 

[isa]

Does that mean my maple cookies and my chocolate cookies are safe?

 

[athenaeus]

Ok!
You laught at the Deipnosophist now but in case your cookies are stolen it's me that you will call to save you with my spells...
I am your woman ( to paraphrase Leonard's Cohen song...)

Ho ho ho ho...