Preparation:

1) Remove the giblets from the turkey and set aside.  Clip the tips of the wings and cut the neck off short.  Wash the turkey and rub with salt and pepper. 

2) For the stuffing: cut the giblets in small pieces and fry oil with the onion, ground meat, and ham.  Boil the sage in water, add the white wine, and pour over the giblets.  Add the noodles, rice, raisins, pine kernels, and apple, pour over the water and cook for 15 minutes.  Finally stir in the chestnuts and season with salt and pepper.  Preheat the oven to 350*F (180*C).

3) Stuff the turkey with the mixture, place in a large roasting pan and cook in the preheated oven for 1.5 - 2 hours.  Melt the butter, mix with a little water, and baste the turkey with it every 30 minutes. 

4) Place the roasted turkey on a large serving platter, stir the wine into the oven juices, bring to a boil, and pour over the turkey.

In Greece, Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas by going to church and with festive food. But there are no special duties or lavish family reunions, even if the obligatory giving of Christmas presents has gradually found its way to Greece, as it has all over the world. In some parts of "Trace, special Christmas games have developed. For instance, on December 24, thirteen young men (rougatsades) walk through the town singing, twelve of them dressed as disciples, the thirteenth as Christ himself. By way of thanks the young men receive a financial reward, as they are all just about to be called up for military service. On the other hand, kalanta, Christmas carols, no different from those of Western Europe, are sung all over Greece. Children go into shops and houses and wish the owners a year full of blessings, and in return they too are given money and candies. On December 25, the only day when all the family gets together, the galopoula, stuffed turkey, is roasted in ovens everywhere, and for dessert there are Greek Christmas cookies, melomakarona (honey macaroons).

The most important winter festival in Greece is the New Year, beginning on New Year's Eve with the New Year cake vasilopita. The first festival on the Greek calendar is marked by honoring St. Vasilios (Santa Claus), who comes down to earth on that day. Vasilopita can be made as a Madeira sponge or a puff pastry cake with nuts, or in a savory version with meat, and a coin is hidden in the cake after baking. The cake is cut on New Year's Eve, with all the family present. The pieces are distributed in a predetermined order: the first is for Christ, the second for Mary, the third for St. Vasilios, the fourth for the house, the fifth for the head of the family, the sixth for the mother, then one for each of the children. A piece is also cut for each absent member of the family. Whoever finds the coin can look forward to special success in the coming year.
 

Excerpt from: "Culinaria Greece" by Marianthi Milona
 

Don't Forget to Pick Up Your Greek Christmas Ornaments!!
Order your Greek Christmas ornaments in advance to ensure product availability.
 

Gold Ancient Greek Parthenon

White Ancient Greek Parthenon

Gold Ancient Greek Comedy and Tragedy Masks

White Ancient Greek Comedy and Tragedy Masks

Gold Ancient Greek Ionic Column

White Ancient Greek Ionic Column

  Featured Destination: Dilos

In ancient times a sacred isle, birthplace of Apollo, Delos now attracts myriads of visitors, all coming to marvel at its monuments. Nowadays uninhabited and very close to Mykonos (3.5 nautical miles from its westernmost headland) there is a daily boat service with it. In the summer caiques making excursions from other Cycladic islands also call here. A small canal separates it from the island of Rheneia.

Delos was known as Ortygia in antiquity and, according to myth, Leto sought refuge here, escaping the wrath of Hera, and gave birth to Apollo and Artemis. Archaeological evidence attests that the island was inhabited as early as 3000 B.C. In Mycenaean times a settlement existed on the west side where there was also a shrine to a female deity. It seems that the Ionian colonizers who arrived in around 1000 BC introduced the cult of Apollo, god of light and music. From the 9th century BC Delos became the centre (political and religious) of an Amphictyony of Ionians living in the Aegean islands, under the hegemony of Naxos. In the 6th century BC the Athenians joined this Amphictyony, on the pretext of their Ionian provenance. After the end of the Persian Wars (478 BC) Delos became the center of the Athenian/Delian League and it was here that the representatives of the League's members met annually to confer. The common treasury of their contributions was also kept here until 454 BC when it was transferred to Athens. In 426 BC the island was cleanse( or purified, the bones of the dead remove( from their graves and deposited on the neighboring island of Rheneia. Thence forth it was forbidden to give birth or die on Delos. When the successors of Alexander the Great cam( into the ascendancy Athenian influence on the island was displaced and it became independent, the centre of diverse alliances under the Macedonians, Egyptians and Rhodians. In 16( BC the Roman Senate passed a decree placing Delos once again under the aegis of Athens. In 88 BC it was laid waste by Mithnidates, it: monuments destroyed and its population o' some 20,000 souls decimated. Close on it,, heels, in 69 BC, came a new disaster from which the island never recovered, remaining deserted, a haven for corsairs. In 1872 the French Archaeological School began systematic excavations there, which still continuo today.

Delos is a vast archaeological site extending from its west side, which was the sacred harbour in ancient times. On the northwest side are the Propylaea and Agora of the Competaliasts or Hermaists, founded in the 2nd century BC and used by Roman merchants and freed slaves. Immediately beyond is the Sacred Way with bases for "ex votos". To the west stood the large Stoa of Philip, built in around 210 BC and opposite this is the so-called South Stoa (3rd century BC) and South Agora or Agora of the Delians. The Sanctuary of Apollo was located northeast of the Stoa of Philip, consisting of three temples dedicated to the god, of which the foundations of the third, the "temple of the Athenians", are nowadays visible. A little before the temple of Apollo stood the Oikos of the Naxians (6th century BC) and the Stoa of the Naxians (mid-6th century BC), to the north the Horn Altar (Keratinos) and northeast the temple of Artemis, built in the 2nd century BC upon the ruins of a previous temple of the 7th century BC. On the north side of the temple of Apollo were the so-called Treasuries and east of these the Prytaneion (mid-5th century BC). Southeast of this was the altar of Zeus Soter, protector of seafarers and, on the north side the temple of Dionysos (early 3rd century BC) and the Stoa reputedly founded by Antigonos Gonatas at the end of the 3rd century BC. To the west were diverse buildings, the Ekkiesiasterion where the Boule of the Deme of the Delians met and the Thesmophoreion, a 5th century edifice associated with the cult of Demeter. Situated on the north side of the sanctuary, in the quarter of the lake, was the Agora of Theophrastus, the Sanctuary of the Twelve Gods of Olympus, the Temple of Leto and the Agora of the Italians. A road led from the temple of Leto and north of the Sacred Lake to the famous Avenue of the Lions, votive of the Naxians in the 7th century BC. Only five of the original seven lions are still extant. At a slightly lower level lay the Sacred Lake on which the swans of Apollo swam in antiquity and which was filled in with earth following an outbreak of malaria in 1926. Northwest of the Avenue of the Lions was the Koine of the Poseidonists of Beirut, centre of merchants who worshipped Poseidon, two palaestrae, the sanctuary of Archegetes, the Gymnasium and the Stadium. The quarter of the Theatre, to the south of the Sanctuary was the major residential area and the houses of the Hellenistic and Roman periods were decorated with mosaics. From here one can easily reach the museum in which finds from the excavations on the island are housed. To the east of the Theatre quarter are remnants of various structures, while a road leads to the eminence of Kynthos, on the summit of which Zeus and Athena were worshipped. Northwest of the House of the Masks are remnants of the ancient Theatre (17 to 26 tiers of seats), which had a capacity of 5,500 spectators and was built in the 2nd century BC.

 Travel & Museum Guides for your trip in the area

 Saints' Name days in December

Icons depicting the celebrated Saint, make great gifts for namedays.
Shop among our great collection of icons at our store. Also available, namedays, birthday, holiday, and special occasion greeting cards.

Gold and Silver Icons	Hand painted Icons	Icons by Zafiris
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