Today I want to share with you Christmas in Crete Greece, We had an amazing Christmas here in Crete. The good thing about Christmas here is that unlike other parts of Europe Crete Has nice weather around Christmas and new year. On Christmas day(25th) we had an amazing sunny day, people had BBQs going, and the wonderful aroma of roasting lamb, pork Chicken, filled the air.

To be honest, Christmas in Crete was great 25th and 26th are family days and people get together including those who have traveled to join the family for the holidays, everyone is in good spirits, wine, and skudhia (Raki) is flowing in abundance. The atmosphere was good despite the shadow of the pandemic.

Christmas In Crete Vs Easter In Crete

I was actually talking to a friend who has been on the island for over 20 years and she was telling me that it wasn’t until recently that Christmas became popular. And I have actually noticed that in many cases Greeks don’t even wrap presents for the children, and sometimes they just take the Children to a shop called Jumbo and make them choose what kinds of toys they want.

After choosing the toys, they just go home and that is Christmas shopping, we actually have a Greek friend who does this with her Children.

And actually, there is confusion on when gifts are exchanged, some exchange gifts on new year’s day, and some exchange on the 25th.

When it comes to Easter, that is the biggest celebration here in Crete and Greece at large. During Easter, there are a lot of jubilation, lots of food, and even fireworks, and of course, this being Crete, there are also lots of people firing shotguns and whatever else they have.

This practice of gunshots during celebrations used to scare me a lot, I actually used to tell my husband to come indoors each time I hear gunshots.

Easter Is The Grandfather Of Holidays Here In Crete, And Greece

Based on my observation, Easter is definitely bigger here than Christmas, the church bells are ringing for longer, there are bigger festivities, actually, the midnight mass is really fun with people holding candles, waiting for the priest to light theirs with his. There are bonfires and the mood is just jubilant.

Traditional delicacies are prepared and this is when those who have been abstaining from eating meat during the lent period, can now consume meat.

How Husband And I Spent Christmas

Well, as you all know my husband is Danish, and in Denmark, they celebrate Christmas on the 24th, that’s when they have the main meal and open presents. Actually, there was a time we spent Christmas in Denmark and we had the meal in the evening, then we danced around the Christmas tree singing Christmas carols.

After dancing and singing, we then sat down and started opening our presents. So this Christmas we just had our meal and then we opened the presents, on the 25th we went to celebrate with our English friends who had invited us, and we had a nice Christmas meal, and we got presents, so it’s like we celebrated Christmas twice lol.

Conclusion

Despite, the current situation in the world, we were able to celebrate Christmas here in Crete, and people were in good spirits. Anyway, I hope you and your family had a great Christmas, and looking forward to the new year. I wish you a wonderful 2022 and hope things will get better.

If you would like to share how you spent your Christmas and how you are spending the new year, please share in the comment section below.

Thank you for your time.

Rose.

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